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Received 


University  of  California. 


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U.S. 

I) 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESSES 


LIFE  AND    CHARACTER 


WM.  A.  BUCKINGHAM, 

(A  SENATOR  OF  CONNECTICUT,) 


DELIVT.RED  IN  THE 


SENATE  AND  WOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 


FORTY-THIRD  CONGRESS,  SECOND  SESSION, 
FEBRUARY  27  AND  MARCH  i,  1875, 

WITH  OTHER  TRIBUTES  OF  RESPECT, 


PUBLISHED  BY  ORDER  OF  CONGRESS. 


WASHINGTON: 
GOVERNMENT     PRINTING    OFFICE. 

1875. 


ANNOUNCEMENT 


DEATH  OF  WILLIAM  A.  BUCKINGHAM, 

A    SENATOR    FROM    CONNECTICUT. 


IN  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Friday,  February  5,   1875. 

Rev.  BYRON  SUNDERLAND,  D.  D.,  Chaplain  of  the  Senate,  offered 
the  following  prayer : 

Almighty  God,  we  come  before  Thee  admonished  by  the  tidings 
of  the  morning  that  in  the  midst  of  life  we  are  in  death ;  that  another 
member  of  this  body  has  been  called  from  the  scene  of  his  earthly 
labors.  Bless  and  uphold,  we  beseech  Thee,  O  Lord  God,  our 
Father  in  heaven,  the  members  of  his  family  and  surviving  friends  in 
the  midst  of  this  great  affliction ;  and  may  they,  with  us,  not  be  left 
to  sorrow  as  those  that  are  without  hope,  because  we  are  assured  that 
though  the  workmen  cease,  yet  the  work  of  God  shall  never  fail. .  O, 
do  Thou  help  us,  and  all  men,  to  bear  with  fortitude  and  fidelity  the 
struggles  and  the  pains  of  this  earthly  state,  and  finally  to  attain  to 
the  rewards  of  everlasting  life,  through  Jesus  Christ.  Amen. 

The  Journal  of  yesterday's  proceedings  was  read  and  approved. 
Mr.  FERRY,  of  Connecticut.     I  rise,  Mr.  President,  in  the  perform 
ance  of  what  is  to  me  the  saddest  duty  of  my  public  life.     I  announce 


ANNOUNCEMENT   OF   THE 


to  the  Senate  the  death  of  my  late  colleague  on  this  floor.  This 
morning,  at  his  home  in  Norwich,  Conn.,  at  twenty  minutes  past 
twelve  o'clock,  just  as  night  was  turning  into  morning,  Governor 
BUCKINGHAM  died.  I  hope  on  another  occasion  to  be  able  to  say 
something  befitting  his  memory.  At  present  I  offer  this  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  consisting  of  five  Senators  be  appointed 
by  the  Chair  to  attend  the  funeral  obsequies  of  Hon.  WILLIAM  A. 
BUCKINGHAM,  at  Norwich,  Conn. 

Mr.  ANTHONY.     Mr.  President,  I  second  the  resolution. 

The  resolution  was  unanimously  agreed  to. 

The  VICE-PRESIDENT  appointed  as  the  committee  Messrs.  FERRY 
of  Connecticut,  SHERMAN,  STEVENSON,  FENTON,  and  WASHBURN. 

Mr.  FERRY,  of  Connecticut.  The  Senate  is  aware  that  in  my  own 
infirm  condition  of  health  it  is  hardly  possible  for  me  to  proceed  to 
the  home  of  my  late  colleague  and  return  immediately  without 
serious  risk.  Were  there  no  other  considerations  than  those  personal 
to  myself,  I  should  certainly  incur  any  risk  to  be  present  on  the 
occasion  to  which  I  allude;  but  there  are  others  interested  in  my 
health,  and  I  must  ask  to  be  excused  from  serving  upon  the  committee. 

The  VICE-PRESIDENT.  The  Senator  from  Connecticut  asks  to  be 
excused  from  service  on  the  committee. 

The  question  was  determined  in  the  affirmative. 

The  VICE-PRESIDENT.  The  Chair  will  appoint  in  place  of  the 
Senator  from  Connecticut,  the  Senator  from  Maine,  [Mr.  HAMLIN.] 

Mr.  FERRY,  of  Connecticut.  I  offer  the  following  additional  reso 
lution: 

Resolved,  That  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  for  the  memory  of  the 
deceased  the  Senate  do  now  adjourn. 

The  resolution  was  agreed  to,  nem.  con. ;  and  (at  twelve  o'clock 
and  sixteen  minutes  p.  m.)  the  Senate  adjourned. 


DEATH    OF   WILLIAM   A.    BUCKINGHAM. 


ANNOUNCEMENT 

OF  THE 

FUNERAL   OF   SENATOR   BUCKINGHAM. 


IN  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Tuesday,  February  9,  1875. 

Mr.  FERRY,  of  Connecticut.  Mr.  President,  it  is  now  the  day  and 
the  hour  appointed  for  the  funeral  of  my  late  colleague  in  this  Cham 
ber.  As  a  token  of  respect  for  our  deceased  friend,  I  move  that  the 
Senate  do  now  adjourn. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to  unanimously ;  and  (at  one  o'clock  and 
two  minutes  p.  m.)  the  Senate  adjourned. 


ADDRESSES 


ON  THE 


DEATH  OF  WILLIAM  A.  BUCKINGHAM, 

A      SENATOR      FROM      CONNECTICUT. 


IN  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
Saturday,  February  27,  1875. 


ADDRESS    OF    yttR.    ^ERRY,    OF 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  In  accordance  with  precedent  on  similar  occa 
sions  I  send  to  the  Chair  resolutions  which  I  ask  may  be  read. 
The  Secretary  read  as  follows : 

Resolved  by  the  Senate,  That,  as  an  additional  mark  of  respect  to 
the  memory  of  WILLIAM  A.  BUCKINGHAM,  late  a  Senator  from 
Connecticut,  business  be  now  suspended,  that  the  friends  and 
associates  of  the  deceased  may  pay  fitting  tribute  to  his  public  and 
private  virtues. 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  communicate  this  resolution  to  the 
House  of  Representatives. 

The  resolutions  were  agreed  to. 


ADDRESS    OF    MR.    FERRY   ON   THE 


Mr.  PRESIDENT:  The  Senate  again  testifies  its  respect  for  one 
whose  name  has  been  stricken  from  its  rolls  by  death. 

When  the  telegraph  announced  that  Mr.  BUCKINGHAM  was  no 
more,  we  paused  in  the  work  of  legislation  to  do  honor  to  his 
memory.  When,  a  few  days  later,  the  hour  arrived  for  the  great 
assemblage  which  had  gathered  to  his  funeral  at  his  distant 
home,  to  go  forth  bearing  his  body  to  its  last  resting-place,  we 
stopped,  as  it  were,  for  the  long  procession  to  pass  by  and  do  its 
solemn  office  and  disperse ;  and  now  we  pause  once  more  to  utter 
in  the  hearing  of  the  nation  such  words  of  commemoration  as 
seem  to  us  befitting  the  regard  in  which  we  held  our  associate 
and  our. friend.  "Eulogies,"  we  are  accustomed  to  call  the  brief 
addresses  which  are  spoken  on  such  occasions.  I  shrink  from  the 
application  of  that  word  to  anything  that  I  can  say  of  him  who 
has  so  lately  gone  out  from  among  us  forever.  He  thought  so 
little  of  himself,  he  was  so  unobtrusive  of  his  own  personality,  so 
truly  simple  and  modest  in  everything  relating  to  his  fame  among 
men,  that  it  seems  as  if  that  kindly  face  were  rising  up  before  me 
to  deprecate  words  of  praise.  But  in  narrating  the  story  of  his 
life  the  plainest  truth  is  the  highest  eulogy,  and  the  power  of  that 
truth  is  now  one  of  the  gracious  influences  which  are  the  common 
property  of  his  countrymen. 

WILLIAM  A.  BUCKINGHAM  was  of  a  Puritan  family,  the  memo 
rials  of  whose  members  are  still  preserved  in  unbroken  line  from 
the  first  of  the  name  who  left  England  in  1637,  and  after  a 
temporary  abode,  first  in  Boston  and  then  in  New  Haven,  settled 
in  Milford,  Conn.  A  volume  of  these  memorials  has  been  printed, 
and  its  pages  furnish  a  noble  illustration  of  the  power  of  early 
influences  in  molding  the  character  of  successive  generations.  For 
nearly  two  centuries  and  a  half,  through  which  the  record  runs, 
the  ancestors  of  Governor  BUCKINGHAM  have  been  men  of  fervent 
piety,  of  superior  intellectual  powers,  of  rare  sagacity  in  affairs, 


LIFE   AND    CHARACTER   OF    WILLIAM    A.    BUCKINGHAM.  9 

and  of  prominence  in  the  community  of  which  they  were  members. 
His  father  and  mother  were  both  remarkable  persons.  Of  the 
former  it  is  said: 

He  was  an  enterprising  and  thrifty  farmer,  who  lived  comfortably 
and  made  his  house  the  home  of  hospitality.  His  most  striking 
characteristic  was  his  rare  good  judgment.  He  was  a  Christian 
gentleman.  His  habits  of  business  were  careful  and  exact.  His 
reverence  was  great.  He  was  tender-hearted  and  full  of  sympathy 
for  the  children  of  misfortune,  as  well  as  rigid  in  his  ideas  of 
personal  duty. 

A  former  clergyman  of  the  place  where  they  dwelt,  in  speaking 
of  the  latter  a  few  years  ago,  says: 

When  I  became  pastor  of  the  church,  I  was  struck  wherever  I 
went  with  the  love  and  gratitude  which  all  poured  out  at  the 
mention  of  one  individual.  That  individual  was  the  mother  of 
our  now  good  governor — a  noble  son  of  a  noble  mother.  Beneath 
every  roof  her  name  was  most  affectionately  mentioned,  as  her 
memory  is  now  sacredly  cherished.  I  wondered  how  she  had  thus 
endeared  herself  to  the  hearts  of  that  people.  But  when  I  saw 
her  at  the  bedside  of  the  sick  and  the  dying  ministering  like  an 
angel  from  above  to  their  relief;  when  I  saw  her  gifts  scattered 
wherever  they  were  needed;  when  I  saw  how  little  she  spent  upon 
herself,  and  how  cheerfully  she  gave  to  others,  I  understood  the 
secret. 

Of  such  parentage,  on  the  28th  of  May,  1804,  in  the  ancient  town 
of  Lebanon,  Conn.,  WILLIAM  A.  BUCKINGHAM  was  born.  Here, 
too,  the  first  eighteen  years  of  his  life  were  passed.  He  was 
educated  in  the,  public  schools  of  his  own  and  of  a  neighboring 
village.  He  learned  to  labor  with  his  hands  upon  his  father's  farm. 
But  there  is  an  education  which  is  neither  of  the  head  nor  of  the 
hands  in  the  influences  which  fill  the  heart  in  the  morning  of  life, 
and  which  most  frequently  form  the  basis  of  character  in  after  years. 
What  those  influences  were,  under  his  parental  roof,  I  have  already 


10  ADDRESS   OF   MR.    FERRY   ON   THE 

told.  But  the  external  circumstances  of  his  boyhood  and  youth 
were  almost  equally  propitious.  There  is  no  spot  in  the  world  where 
the  conditions  which  mold  a  human  life  are  more  auspicious  than 
those  which  existed  in  his  native  town  from  fifty  to  seventy  years 
ago.  Its  natural  aspects  were  simple  and  peaceful.  Its  one  long, 
spacious  street,  with  wide  grassy  borders,  between  which  lay  the 
beaten  road,  here  and  there  overshadowed  by  ancient  trees;  the 
slopes  of  arable  and  pasture  and  meadow  land,  broken  by  primitive 
woods  at  varying  intervals;  the  scattered  farm-houses,  with  their  out 
buildings  ;  the  rain-and-sun  imbrowned  meeting-house,  school-house, 
and  academy,  are  all  familiar  features  of  the  New  England  village  of 
that  day,  and  in  harmony  with  the  life  of  the  people  who  beheld 
them — a  plain,  earnest,  thoughtful  people,  who  believed  in  God  and 
duty;  industrious,  because  they  earned  their  bread  by  their  daily 
toil;  independent,  because  each  man  owned  the  acres  which  he 
tilled ;  intelligent,  because  the  school-house  opened  wide  its  doors 
to  all;  brave,  because  fearing  God  they  feared  nothing  else;  pure, 
because  without  a  shadow  on  their  belief  in  the  Scripture  revelation 
they  lived  habitually  in  as  vivid  a  consciousness  of  the  invisible  as  of 
the  visible  world  around  them.  We  can  hardly  realize  the  intensity 
of  that  faith  in  the  present  age.  It  had,  perhaps,  too  much  of  a  som 
ber  tinge,  but  it  pervaded  life  with  the  impregnable  sense  of  duty, 
and  robbed  death  of  its  terrors  by  the  assurance  of  a  nobler  life 
beyond.  The  air  of  the  place  was  moreover  full  of  patriotic  associa 
tions.  It  was  the  home  of  many  prominent  characters  of  the  revolu 
tionary  period.  Chief  among  these  was  the  family  of  the  Trumbulls. 
The  plain  frame  house  in  which  they  had  lived  during  two  genera 
tions  of  distinguished  service,  and  the  old  "war-office,"  as  it  was 
called,  where  the  elder  Trumbull  had  transacted  his  public  business 
during  his  long  administration  of  State  affairs,  remained  landmarks  of 
the  past  till  a  period  even  now  recent.  School-boys  entering  the 
latter  looked  with  awe  upon  the  marks  of  spurs,  still  to  be  seen  on 


LIFE   AND    CHARACTER   OF   WILLIAM    A.    BUCKINGHAM.  II 

the  side  of  the  counter  where  orderlies  and  express-riders  had  sat 
awaiting  the  governor's  orders  during  the  war  of  independence.  In 
that  house  Washington,  Franklin,  Jefferson,  La  Fayette,  Rochain- 
beau,  and  many  other  old-time  worthies  had  been  guests.  French 
troops  had  gone  into  winter-quarters  here,  and  five  regiments  had 
been  reviewed  by  Washington  himself  on  the  spacious  street.  More 
than  five  hundred  men  from  that  little  town  had  been  in  the  revolu 
tionary  armies  at  one  time,  and  every  house  was  full  of  their  remi 
niscences. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  such  associations  that  the  boy  BUCKINGHAM 
grew  up  from  infancy  to  early  manhood.  The  impression  which  they 
made  may,  I  think,  be  traced  through  all  his  subsequent  life. 

At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  taught  school  for  a  single  year,  and  then, 
having  selected  the  calling  of  a  merchant  as  best  adapted  to  his 
tastes  and  circumstances,  he  began  with  the  rudiments  of  that  occupa 
tion  by  entering  into  the  employment  of  a  mercantile  firm  in  Nor 
wich,  in  the  capacity  of  a  clerk.  Trade  now  became  his  study,  and 
after  three  years  of  application  he  felt  himself  qualified  for  business 
upon  his  own  responsibility.  At  the  age  of  twenty-three  he  opened 
a  store  in  Norwich,  and  success  seems  to  have  attended  him  from 
the  very  first.  Indeed,  he  was  a  model  of  the  man  of  business. 
Upright,  prompt,  faithful  to  all  engagements,  attentive,  careful,  cour 
teous,  and  possessed  of  that  rare  sagacity  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  a  family  trait,  he  won  the  confidence  of  all  with  whom  he  had 
relations.  At  the  age  of  twenty-six  he  made  open  profession  of  the 
faith  which  had  already  become  the  controlling  influence  in  his  life, 
by  uniting  in  the  membership  of  the  church  of  his  ancestors. 
Between  that  event  and  the  present  hour,  forty-five  years  of  a  stain 
less  life  and  of  earnest,  unceasing  Christian  endeavor  attest  the  sin 
cerity  of  his  profession. 

After  a  brief  space  of  time  he  added  manufacturing  to  his  mercan 
tile  pursuits,  and  in  1848  abandoned  the  latter  altogether,  to  devote 


12  ADDRESS    OF    MR.    FERRY    ON   THE 

his  entire  means  and  energies  to  the  former  in  new  and  more 
expanded  methods.  In  the  mean  time  he  had  married  and  built  up 
a  cultivated,  refined,  and  Christian  home,  where  unaffected  piety 
and  mutual  love  shed  their  benign  influences  upon  all  the  household 
and  upon  the  community  in  which  he  dwelt.  Assiduity  and  sagacity 
in  business,  honorable  dealing,  unspotted  integrity,  and  fidelity  to 
all  engagements,  had  produced  their  natural  results,  and  prosperity 
abundantly  awarded  his  labors.  As  the  years  passed  on,  the  circle 
of  his  influence  grew  wider  as  the  knowledge  of  his  character  and 
qualities  was  spread  abroad.  Prior  to  1856  he  had  held  no  public 
station  except  that  of  mayor  of  Norwich,  but  his  usefulness,  even  in 
a  private  capacity,  could  hardly  be  excelled  by  that  which  is  ordinarily 
exerted  by  men  in  any  position  in  life.  No  man  ever  lived  who 
more  truly,  unaffectedly,  and  constantly  regarded  all  his  possessions, 
whether  of  time,  talents,  property,  or  influence,  as  a  stewardship  for 
God  and  humanity. 

I  love  to  contemplate  that  portion  of  his  life  when,  a  simple  private 
citizen,  he  was  doing  the  work  which  he  found  to  do,  without  thought 
of  the  greater  future  which  awaited  him.  No  opportunity  to  do 
good,  great  or  small,  escaped  him.  He  taught  little  children  in  the 
Sunday-school.  As  deacon  of  the  church,  he  was  its  almoner  to  the 
poor  and  the  distributer  of  the  sacred  emblems  to  the  membership 
of  its  communion  and  to  the  stranger  within  its  gates.  He  helped 
to  found  acadamies,  build  up  public  libraries,  provide  for  feeble 
churches,  promote  temperance  reform,  endow  colleges,  and  to  send 
the  light  of  Christian  civilization  to  the  remotest  corners  of  the  globe. 
And  all  this  so  quietly,  so  naturally  as  it  were,  that,  proceeding  from 
him,  it  seemed  nothing  extraordinary.  Moreover,  there  were  ever 
flowing  from  him  streams  of  hidden  beneficence,  gladdening  many 
hearts  and  drying  the  tears  in  many  eyes,  whose  story  never  will  be 
told  till  the  secrets  of  all  hearts  shall  be  revealed. 

A  quarter  of  a  century  of  such  ceaseless  activity  in  business  and 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER    OF    WILLIAM    A.    BUCKINGHAM.  13 

in  doing  good  could  not  fail  to  bring  even  the  private  citizen  to  the 
public  knowledge  in  his  own  and  the  neighboring  communities; 
but  the  time  arrived  when  he  was  to  be  called  to  more  conspicuous 
labor  and  duties.  Mr.  BUCKINGHAM,  while  hitherto  not  specially 
prominent  in  political  life,  had  nevertheless  carried  into  the  discharge 
of  his  duties  as  citizen  the  same  conscientious  convictions  which 
pervaded  his  whole  character.  The  great  tide-wave  of  opposition 
to  the  further  progress  of  slavery  on  the  national  domain  swept  over 
the  land,  disintegrating  old  parties  and  preparing  the  material  for 
new.  He  had  always  been  a  whig,  and  with  most  whigs  the  Mis 
souri  compromise  was  second  in.  sanctity  and  inviolability  only  to 
the  Constitution  itself.  Its  repeal  and  the  purpose  which  that  repeal 
disclosed  shocked  every  feeling  not  only  of  his  intellectual  but  of  his 
moral  nature.  That  he  should  be  a  Republican  under  such  circum 
stances  was  a  matter  of  course.  And  with  him,  on  the  questions 
that  now  agitated  the  public  mind,  political  opinions  became  a  part 
of  his  deepest  and  most  solemn  convictions.  It  was  no  longer  the 
mere  expediences  of  administration  that  men  thought  and  talked 
and  wrote  about  and  voted  upon,  but  great  and  sacred  questions  of 
right  and  wrong  and  duty,  and  on  such  questions  there  was  but  one 
course  possible  to  Mr.  BUCKINGHAM.  Having  settled  in  his  own 
mind  whither  right  and  duty  pointed,  thither  he  must  go,  and  with 
all  his  might. 

In  the  presidential  election  of  1856,  the  first  in  which  the  new 
party  entered  the  field  as  a  national  organization,  it  was  felt  that  his 
name  would  be  a  powerful  auxiliary  in  the  canvass,  and  it  was 
placed  on  the  Republican  electoral  ticket,  and  contributed  greatly  to 
its  success.  Brought  thus  prominently  before  the  people  of  the 
whole  State,  his  qualities  of  mind  and  character  became  more  widely 
known  than  ever  before,  and  in  the  spring  of  1858  he  was  elected 
governor  of  Connecticut.  For  eight  years,  by  successive  annual 
re-elections,  he  remained  in  that  office.  The  period  comprises  the 


14  ADDRESS   OF   MR.    FERRY   ON   THE 

most  eventful   portion  of  American   history  since  the  war  of  inde 
pendence. 

It  is  impossible  on  an  occasion  like  this  even  to  sketch  the  outline 
of  Governor  BUCKINGHAM'S  long  administration.  In  its  third  year 
the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  became  the  signal  forjthe  bursting  of  the 
storm  which  had  so  long  been  gathering.  From  the  foundation  of 
the  Government  there  had  been  two  circumstances  especially  hostile 
to  the  peace  of  the  Republic.  The  one  a  political  doctrine,  the 
other  an  economic  system — secession  and  slavery.  Was  the  body- 
politic  called  the  United  States  a  nation  or  a  confederacy  ?  From 
the  beginning  there  had  been  opposing  opinions,  entertained  with 
equal  sincerity  by  the  best  minds  of  the  Republic.  Great  lawyers, 
jurists,  and  statesmen  were  to  be  found  on  either  side.  It  should 
have  been  a  question  for  lawyers  to  argue  and  courts  to  decide.  It 
might  possibly  have  been  so  but  for  the  contemporaneous  existence 
of  slavery.  This  system,  so  feeble  at  the  adoption  of  the  Constitu 
tion  as  to  seem  destined  to  perish  in  a  single  generation,  had  become 
in  the  course  of  events  the  most  gigantic  material  interest  and  the 
most  formidable  political  power  in  the  nation.  Repugnant  cer 
tainly  to  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  to  the  morality  of  the  age, 
and  to  the  convictions  of  a  majority  of  the  whole  people,  its  security 
against  assault  depended  upon  the  constitutional  powers  and  func 
tions  of  the  States,  and  an  exaggerated  assertion  of  those  powers 
and  functions  on  the  part  of  its  supporters  was  the  natural  result. 
So  secession  and  slavery,  occupying  the  same  territorial  area,  had 
become  allies,  and  for  more  than  a  generation  a  perpetual  menace. 
The  moral  question,  moreover,  involved  in  the  system  of  bondage, 
had  been  decided  differently  in  the  minds  of  the  people  of  the  two 
great  territorial  divisions  distinguished  by  its  presence  or  absence. 
Its  rectitude  was  as  clear  to  the  one  as  its  intrinsic  turpitude  was 
to  the  other.  The  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  upon  the  avowed  pur 
pose  to  put  a  final  period  to  the  further  progress  of  slavery  upon  the 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   WILLIAM    A.    BUCKINGHAM.  15 

national  territory  brought  the  opposing  forces  to  an  issue  which 
could  no  longer  be  averted.  For  the  preservation  of  slavery  the 
experiment  of  secession  was  inevitable. 

To  Governor  BUCKINGHAM  secession  was  rebellion,  and  an  ordi 
nance  of  secession  was  a  declaration  of  war.  It  did  not  require  the 
echo  of  artillery  from  Fort  Sumter  to  awaken  him  to  the  duties  of 
the  hour.  In  the  winter  of  i86o-'6i  he  began  with  such  means  as 
the  disjointed  militia  laws  of  Connecticut  placed  in  his  hands  to  pre 
pare  for  the  conflict.  Upon  the  first  call  of  President  Lincoln  for 
troops  at  the  fall  of  Sumter  he  devoted  himself,  mind  and  body  and 
estate,  to  bring  that  conflict  to  a  successful  issue.  Thenceforth  till 
the  final  overthrow  of  the  rebellion  his  history  is  a  prominent  part  of 
the  history  of  the  nation.  The  legislature  of  the  State  was  to  assem 
ble  in  a  few  weeks,  but  it  was  impossible  to  await  its  meeting.  The 
laws  of  the  State  were  utterly  inadequate  to  the  emergency,  and  re 
sponsibility  must  be  assumed.  The  treasury  was  empty  and  money 
could  not  be  raised  for  months  by  the  regular  methods,  but  money 
must  be  raised.  The  governor  anticipated  the  enactment  of  laws, 
assumed  responsibility,  and  pledged  his  private  credit  in  the  pur 
chase  of  supplies  and  munitions  of  war  for  the  troops  which  from  all 
parts  of  the  State  were  filling  up  the  rolls  of  the  volunteers.  When 
the  legislature  assembled  it  passed  acts  of  indemnity  and  literally 
placed  the  whole  resources  of  the  State  at  his  disposal.  And  thus  it 
continued  substantially  during  the  entire  war.  Never  was  a  trust 
more  faithfully  executed.  As  call  after  call  for  troops  proceeded 
from  Washington,  the  governor  was  indefatigable  in  securing  the 
promptest  response.  As  regiment  after  regiment  went  forth  to  the 
front,  he  devoted  his  time,  his  energies,  and  often  his  personal  re 
sources  to  the  completeness  of  their  equipment  and  the  promotion  of 
their  comfort.  His  care  of  them  was  as  tender  as  that  of  a  father. 
The  historian  of  the  State  during  this  period  narrates  that — 

Governor  BUCKINGHAM  made  it  a  matter  of  duty  to  visit  every 


1 6  ADDRESS    OF    MR.    FERRY    ON    THE 

regiment  and  address  to  its  officers  words  of  counsel.  "  I  remember 
their  substance  well,"  says  an  officer.  "After  telling  us  what  a  noble 
band  of  men  we  had  the  honor  to  command,  he  told  us  thai  we 
could  do  much  both  to  promote  their  usefulness  and  to  relieve  their 
privations.  '  Remember,'  said  he,  '  that  the  Government  makes  am 
ple  provisions  for  its  defenders.  Whatever  the  Government  pro 
vides,  that  your  men  are  entitled  to  receive.  See  that  they  are  thus 
provided.  If,  through  the  carelessness  of  officers  on  the  higher 
staffs,  such  provision  is  not  made,  do  not  hesitate  to  make  your  com 
plaints  until  the  grievance  is  remedied.  If  you  cannot  get  redress 
otherwise,  then  write  me  the  facts  fully  and  I  will  apply  to  the  high 
est  power  in  the  land  for  you.'  Then,  after  an  earnest  appeal  to  us 
to  seek  divine  guidance  and  protection,  he  bade  us  farewell." 

One  or  two  incidents  which  I  know  to  be  authentic  will  further 
illustrate  this  tenderness  of  the  governor  for  the  troops.  A  citizen 
of  Connecticut,  whose  duties  kept  him  almost  constantly  at  the 
front,  happened  to  meet  Governor  BUCKINGHAM  at  Washington,  and 
in  the  course  of  a  conversation  the  latter  said  to  him,  "  You  will  see 
a  good  many  battles  and  much  suffering ;  don't  let  any  Connecticut 
man  suffer  for  want  of  anything  that  can  be  done  for  him ;  if  it  costs 
money,  draw  on  me  for  it."  The  same  person,  on  the  last  day  of 
the  fight  at  Gettysburgh,  when  victory  had  declared  on  the  Federal 
side,  and  while  yet  the  fields  were  strewn  with  the  dead  and 
wounded,  seized  an  opportunity  to  telegraph  the  Governor  the  great 
result,  and  quick  as  the  wires  could  bear  it  came  back  the  response, 
"  Take  good  care  of  the  Connecticut  men." 

All  through  the  long  and  varying  conflict  the  courage  of  Governor 
BUCKINGHAM  never  faltered.  With  citizens  in  arms  against  the  Gov 
ernment  no  compromise,  no  concession  was  possible ;  the  very  word 
negotiation  implied  national  death.  In  his  message  delivered  in  the 
darkest  days  of  the  war,  just  after  the  bloody  repulse  of  Chancellors- 
ville,  he  said : 

The  conflict  inaugurated  at  Sumter  must  go  on  until  the  Govern 
ment  shall  conquer  or  be  conquered.  Let  no  one  be  deceived  by 


LIFE   AND    CHARACTER   OF   WILLIAM    A.    BUCKINGHAM.  17 

the  artful  device  of  securing  peace  by  a  cessation  of  hostilities.     * 

*  *     A  peace  thus  attained  would  cost  a  nation's  birthright.     *     * 

*  Civil  war  is  cruelty.     Its  fruits  are  desolation,  sorrow,  and  death. 
Fear,  hesitation,  and  a  timid  use  of  the  forces  of  war  will  eventually 
increase  these  terrible  sufferings.     They  will  be  diminished  by  cour 
age,  vigor,  and  severity.     *     *     *     Whatever  of  trial,  suffering,  or 
privation  may  be  in  store  for  us,  or  however  long  may  be  the  contro 
versy,  firm  in  the  faith  that  our  nation  will  be  preserved  in  its  integ 
rity,  let  us  in  adversity  as  well  as  in  prosperity,  in  darkness  as  well 
as  in  light,  give  the  administration  our  counsel,  our  confidence,  our 
support. 

Kindly  and  gentle  as  we  have  seen  him  here  in  these  recent  years, 
it  is  impossible  not  to  feel  that  in  the  veins  of  him  who  penned  such 
words  flowed  the  blood  of  the  grim  Ironsides  who  fought  at  Naseby 
and  at  Marston  Moor,  and  that  in  his  breast  dwelt  the  spirit  which 
animated  the  Hebrew  king  who,  contemplating  the  inextinguishable 
hostility  of  the  enemies  of  his  people  and  of  the  glorious  hopes 
bound  up  in  their  national  existence,  exclaimed :  "Blessed  be  the 
Lord  my  strength,  which  teacheth  my  hands  to  war  and  my  fingers 
to  fight." 

The  exigencies  of  the  war  frequently  brought  Governor  BUCKING 
HAM  to  Washington  during  its  whole  continuance.  Here  he  speedily 
won  the  respect  of  all  by  his  capacity,  firmness,  and  devotion  to  the 
common  cause.  He  was  especially  endeared  to  President  Lincoln, 
who  reposed  in  him  the  same  confidence  which  Washington  had 
bestowed  upon  his  great  predecessor,  Jonathan  Trumbull.  As  a 
gentleman,  entering  the  executive  office,  introduced  himself  as  from 
Connecticut,  the  President  rose  from  his  chair,  and  placing  his  hand 
impressively  upon  the  visitor's  shoulder,  exclaimed  :  "  From  Connect 
icut?  Do  you  know  what  a  good  governor  you  have  got?" 

So  long  as  the  war  lasted  the  people  of  his  State  would  not  permit 
Governor  BUCKINGHAM  to  leave  his  post.  For  many  years  one  or  at 
most  two  re-elections  of  the  same  chief  magistrate  had  been  the  cus- 


2  B 


1 8  ADDRESS   OF   MR.    FERRY   ON  THE 

torn  of  the  little  Commonwealth ;  and  the  governor,  weary  with  in 
cessant  labor  and  apprehensive  that  the  breach  of  the  established 
precedent  might  create  unpleasant  feeling,  more  than  once  signified 
his  wish  to  retire.  But  the  people  would  not  let  him,  and  not  until 
the  victory  was  completely  won  and  the  authority  of  the  Republic 
permanently  re-established  would  they  permit  him  to  seek  his  much 
needed  repose.  And  even  then  they  were  not  content.  There  was 
one  crown  which  they  could  yet  fitly  place  upon  his  head,  the 
highest  gift  which  the  people  of  Connecticut  alone  could  confer 
upon  him.  In  May,  1866,  his  last  term  of  office  as  governor  expired. 
In  May,  1868,  they  elected  him  a  Senator  of  the  United  States. 
And  now  for  almost  six  years  he  has  gone  in  and  out  among  us 
here,  regarded  by  every  one  of  us  with  loving  reverence  and  un 
alloyed  respect,  the  humble  Christian,  the  pure  statesman,  the  sin 
cere  patriot,  the  perfect  gentleman,  in  all  a  model  to  us  all.  Ever 
assiduous  in  business,  doing  his  work  in  committee  and  in  the  Senate 
with  the  laborious  industry  of  his  earlier  prime  and  the  matured 
wisdom  of  his  ripening  years,  he  was  the  faithful  representative  of 
his  State  and  the  constant  guardian  of  his  country's  interests.  Of 
him  as  a  Senator,  in  this  hour  of  the  freshness  of  our  recollections,  I 
need  say  no  more. 

When  the  present  session  began  our  friend  was  not  among  us.  A 
sickness  like  a  decay,  first  lingering,  then  hastening,  had  fallen  upon 
him.  The  mind  remained  clear  and  unperturbed,  while  the  bodily 
powers  were  failing,  until  near  the  close,  when  he  sank  into  uncon- 
ciousness  and  fell  asleep.  He  had  lived  his  three-score  and  ten 
years,  and  his  official  life  among  us  was  just  approaching  its  end. 
We  had  hoped  for  some  more  years  of  a  serene  and  honored  old  age, 
but  these  could  have  added  nothing  to  the  beauty  of  that  life  or  the 
value  of  that  example. 

An  incident  which  occurred  on  the  day  of  his  funeral  may  perhaps 
fitly  close  these  reminiscences.  All  the  morning,  in  the  home  where 


LIFE   AND    CHARACTER    OF    WILLIAM    A.    BUCKINGHAM.  19 

he  had  so  long  dwelt,  his  body  lay  in  its  still  repose,  while  friends 
and  acquaintances  from  his  own  and  adjacent  communities  passed 
in  long  procession  through  the  silent  room,  taking  one  last  look  at 
the  face  of  the  departed.  It  was  an  impressive  scene;  great  dig 
nitaries  were  there,  cabinet  officers,  Senators,  Representatives,  gov 
ernors,  and  judges  of  the  land;  young  and  old,  rich  and  poor,  men 
and  women,  the  wise,  the  brilliant,  and  the  beautiful.  Among  them 
all  was  observed  a  humble  negro  couple,  advanced  in  years.  With 
bowed  faces  they  paused  at  the  coffin,  gazed  upon  the  calm  features 
with  tears  streaming  down  their  dusky  cheeks,  and  passed  on  burst 
ing  into  irrepressible  sobs  as  they  moved  from  the  apartment.  No 
one  knew  the  story  of  those  tears,  but  from  what  I  know  of  the  dead 
I  am  sure  that  there  was  a  story  in  them,  and  I  call  to  mind  the 
words  of  Him  who  said,  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of 
the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me." 

The  history  of  such  a  man  is  the  best  delineation  of  his  character. 
Posterity  will  affirm  of  him  that  his  own  age  was  the  better  for  his 
life,  and  his  example  the  best  legacy  that  he  could  leave  to  succeed 
ing  generations. 


ADDRESS    OF    y\A.R.    J^RELINGHUYSEN,    OF    JjEW    jlERSEY. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  The  warm  friendship  I  have  for  years  enter 
tained  for  Governor  BUCKINGHAM  and  my  high  estimate  of  his  char 
acter  forbid  that  I  suffer  this  occasion  to  pass  away  without,  as 
briefly  as  I  may,  paying  to  his  memory  a  parting  tribute. 

In  speaking  of  him  we  need  not  resort  to  any  studied  phraseology 
from  the  fear  that  a  freedom  of  expression  might  unwittingly  un 
cover  characteristic  faults ;  and  I  offend  no  one  who  hears  me  by 
saying  that  if  his  excellence  has  not  been  readily  recognized,  it  is 
because  of  a  moral  vision  too  defective  to  discern  a  portraiture  of 
many  virtues. 


20 


ADDRESS   OF    MR.    FRELINGHUYSEN   ON    THE 


In  his  death  the  nation  and  society  have  sustained  a  loss  not 
readily  repaired.  That  combination  of  integrity  and  efficiency,  of 
prudence  and  courage,  of  kindness  and  firmness,  of  patriotism  and 
Christian  virtue  which  formed  his  character  is  not  often  found.  As 
a  man  of  extensive  business  connections,  his  opinions  on  affairs  were 
sought  after  and  respected;  and  his  punctuality  in  the  performance 
of  every  obligation  was  an  example.  As  the  war-governor  of  Con 
necticut  he  contributed  much  to  the  preservation  of  the  nation,  and 
has  shed  a  luster  on  the  history  of  his  native  State.  As  our  com 
panion  here,  his  wisdom  and  judgment  commanded  our  respect,  his 
virtues  won  our  esteem,  and  his  generous  kindness  secured  our  affec 
tion.  As  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Commerce  his  extensive 
practical  experience  gave  weight  and  authority  to  his  opinions,  and 
as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs  he  was  jealous  of 
the  rights  of  the  red  man,  and  seemed  never  to  forget  the  mutations 
in  the  sad  fortunes  of  that  decaying  people— never  to  forget  that  we 
had  "extinguished  their  council-fires  and  plowed  up  the  bones  of 
their  fathers,"  and  that  we  were  the  debtors  to  the  little  remnant  of 
a  once  great  race  and  that  the  debt  would  never  be  adjusted. 

Sir,  the  heroes  of  the  Roman  republic  made  their  country  their 
god,  their  idol.  To  it  they  so  sacrificed  the  interests  of  every  other 
nation  and  the  welfare  of  mankind  that  their  so-called  patriotism  be 
came  a  vice.  Our  lamented  friend  had  higher  inspirations.  He  had 
been  taught  by  Him  who  prescribed  a  virtue  to  the  heart  out  of  which 
naturally  grew  not  only  a  pure  patriotism,  but  that  philanthropy 
which  takes  within  its  kindly  care  an  immortal  race.  Patriotism 
itself  becomes  subordinate  to  this  more  comprehensive  beneficence. 
When  the  sad  tidings  of  the  death  of  our  friend  passed  over  the 
wires,  thousands  and  thousands  of  the  best  people  of  the  country 
were  saddened.  Those  who  while  we  are  engaged  in  making  laws 
to  impose  on  society  external  restraints  are  noiselessly  and  unobtru 
sively  at  work  in  imposing  and  impressing  on  society  the  more  potent 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   WILLIAM   A.    BUCKINGHAM.  21 

and  more  salutary  internal  restraints  of  a  pure  religion,  feel  that  in 
his  death  they  have  lost  an  efficient  co-worker,  a  wise  counselor,  and 
a  bright  exemplar.  His  was  a  bright  example ;  and  as  he  had  no 
moral  obliquities  to  hide,  he  had  no  temptation  to  resort  to  pretension 
or  to  become  a  prude  in  virtue. 

The  faith  he  professed  received  from  him  no  prejudice  and  no 
damage.  His  life  was  the  expression  of  "  an  honest,  earnest,  loving 
heart,  taking  counsel  of  its  God  and  of  itself." 

His  many  excellencies,  however,  gave  him  no  exemption  from  the 
solemn  summons  that  must  come  to  all ;  but  they  did  render  that 
summons  a  message  of  peace.  And  we,  while  lamenting  him,  may 
experience  a  cheerful  gratitude  that  he  was  permitted  to  accomplish 
so  much  good,  and  then  to  leave  us  the  confident  assurance  that  he 
has  met  the  reward  of  the  just.  His  object  in  life  was  not  his  own 
aggrandizement  or  the  gratification  of  a  mere  personal  ambition. 
With  him  the  question  was  not,  What  shall  I  get  ?  Where  shall  I 
go  ?  but  the  question  was,  What  shall  I  be  ?  So  far  as  he  lived  for 
himself,  it  was  (to  borrow  the  figure  of  another)  "  to  frame  and 
construct  an  instrument  called  character,"  from  which  we,  in  our 
daily  intercourse,  were  wont  to  hear  notes  of  sweet  harmony,  but  the 
full  music  of  which  has  now  just  begun. 

As  in  the  clammy  cave  the  continual  droppings  day  by  day  and 
year  by  year  form  the  stalagmite — grotesque  or  beautiful — so  are  we 
all,  by  each  act,  each  thought,  each  purpose,  forming  our  characters. 

Our  fortunes,  our  associations,  our  reputations,  we  leave  behind 
us;  but  this  character,  thus  continuously  and  imperceptibly  being 
formed,  we  take  with  us,  and  keep  with  us  throughout  the  endless 
cycles  of  eternity. 

ADDRESS    OF    y\lR.    BAYARD,    OF    J)ELAWARE. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  The  public  career  of  our  late  friend  and  associate 
has  been  recited  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  Connecticut,  who 


22  ADDRESS    OF    MR.    BAYARD    ON   THE 

was  his  colleague,  with  an  interesting  completeness  that  renders 
unnecessary  an  additional  word.  Yet  an  expression  of  sorrow  and 
sympathy  from  this  side  of  the  Senate  cannot  be  unwelcome  or 
inappropriate  upon  this  occasion.  I  entered  this  body  on  the  same 
day  as  our  late  friend  and  brother,  having  never  previously  had 
personal  acquaintance  with  him ;  and  although  the  committees  upon 
which  we  were  allotted  service  by  the  Senate  were  different,  yet  rela 
tions  of  a  kindly  nature  soon  grew  up  between  us,  arising  from  the 
contact  of  general  business  in  this  Chamber.  I  was  greatly  won  by 
the  considerate  courtesy  which  so  eminently  marked  his  bearing,  and 
our  acquaintance  grew  closely  with  the  lapse  of  time,  until  a  senti 
ment  of  what  I  am  glad  to  believe  was  one  of  mutual  regard 
established  itself  between  us.  Our  affiliations  in  party  politics  were 
totally  diverse,  and  upon  such  questions  the  sense  of  duty  enter 
tained  by  each  led  our  voices  and  our  votes  usually  in  opposite 
directions. 

Our  habits  of  life,  the  schools  of  thought  and  action  in  which  we 
had  been  reared,  had  always  been  of  a  different  character,  leading 
us  into  the  adoption  of  different  theories  of  social  and  political 
government.  But  the  calmness,  the  serenity,  the  cheerful,  steady, 
and  open  advocacy  of  his  conscientious  views  never  suggested 
condemnation  or  disrespect  of  those  who  opposed  him.  I  well 
remember  on  one  occasion,  when  I  had  combated  in  debate  some 
opinion  he  evidently  cherished,  that,  fearing  he  might  have  considered 
himself  included  in  my  adverse  criticisms,  I  said  to  him  privately, 
"  I  trust  you  will  let  me  agree  with  you  and  yet  denounce  your 
opinions."  And  with  a  smile  of  graciousness  which  every  one  who 
knew  him  must  remember,  he  placed  his  arm  around  my  shoulder 
and  said :  "  My  dear  friend,  we  both  mean  what  is  right,  and  must 
not  condemn  each  other  because  we  differ  in  our  ways  of  attaining 
it." 

In  the  winter  of  181-2  Mr.  BUCKINGHAM  was  the  chairman  of 


LIFE   AND    CHARACTER   OF   WILLIAM    A.    BUCKINGHAM.  23 

a  committee  of  investigation  of  which  I  was  a  member,  which  sat  in 
the  city  of  New  York  for  nearly  two  months.  Its  sessions  were  long 
and  laborious,  by  night  and  by  day,  involving  much  that  was  calcu 
lated  to  arouse  contest  between  the  members.  And  I  would  here 
bear  witness  to  the  unfailing  industry,  the  unflagging  attention  there 
bestowed  upon  this  public  duty  by  this  then  aged  and  venerable 
man,  whose  gentle  courtesy  and  good  temper  never  failed  upon  any 
occasion.  The  long  life  of  our  friend  had  been,  as  we  have  just 
been  told,  one  of  steady  industry  and  solid,  unvarying  integrity ;  and 
the  reward  of  wealth  and  the  higher  reward  of  public  and  private 
regard  and  respect  were  his.  The  people  of  his  native  State  have 
attested  in  many  ways  and  repeatedly  their  high  opinion  of  his  intel 
ligence  and  worth,  and  placed  him  for  many  successive  terms  in  the 
chair  of  their  chief  magistracy,  and  sent  him  into  this  council  cham 
ber  as  one  of  their  representatives.  Full  of  years  and  honors,  they 
now  mourn  for  him. 

Let  his  virtues  be  written  upon  marble  and  remembered*  and  imi 
tated  by  those  of  us  who  survive  him.  Let  such  faults  and  imper 
fections  as  are  ever  attendant  upon  humanity  pass  from  our  minds 
and  find  that  mercy  and  forgiveness  for  which  he  earnestly  and  hum 
bly  sought  and  of  which  we  all  stand  so  much  in  need.  Senators, 
our  hearts  meet  now  over  this  new  grave  of  a  departed  brother. 
Shall  not  this  communion  of  sorrow  keep  us  less  far  apart  in  the 
performance  of  those  daily  duties  upon  which  we  are  in  a  few  hours 
again  to  embark  ? 


ADDRESS    OF    JA.R.    ANTHONY,    OF    j^HODE    JSLAND. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT: 

The  chamber  where  the  good  man  meets  his  fate 

Is  privileged  beyond  the  common  walk 

Of  virtuous  life ;  quite  in  the  verge  of  heaven. 

The  resolution  of  the  Senator  from  Connecticut  bids  us  pause  in 


24  ADDRESS  OF  MR.  ANTHONY  ON  THE 

the  proceedings  of  the  closing  session,  that  we  may  render  honor  to 
a  good  man ;  one  who  in  a  long  life,  crowded  with  active  duties  and 
largely  occupied  with  the  responsible  control  of  important  public 
affairs,  did  not  fail  in  what  he  owed  to  himself  and  to  his  fellow-men, 
and  who  has  left  on  his  record  nothing  that  those  who  love  him  best 
and  who  grieve  for  him  most  would  wish  to  efface. 
There  is  nothing  certain  in  life  but  death. 

Leaves  have  their  time  to  fall, 

And  flowers  to  wither  at  the  north  wind's  breath, 
And  stars  io  set ;  but  all — 

Thou  hast  all  seasons  for  thine  own,  O  Death ! 

And  when  death  comes  early,  when  it  crushes  the  budding  love 
liness  of  childhood  or  treads  upon  the  bloom  of  youth,  or  even  when 
it  tramples  on  the  strength  of  manhood,  the  natural  grief  that  we 
feel  is  aggravated,  because  the  event  is  as  untimely  as  it  is  severe ; 
and  we  murmur  that  it  contradicts  the  order  of  nature. 

But  when  the  pale  messenger  lays  his  hand  upon  an  accomplished 
life,  a  life  that  has  rounded  out  the  years  which  experience  and  in 
spiration  assign  as  the  desirable  limit  of  human  duration;  when 
these  years  have  been  occupied  with  usefulness,  rewarded  by  success, 
and  crowned  with  honor ;  when  a  good  man,  having  discharged  the 
duties '  and  fulfilled  the  trusts  of  life,  lies  down,  calmly  and  peace 
fully,  to  his  final  repose,  we  may  grieve,  but  we  are  not  permitted  to 
complain.  The  tears  of  affection  may  not  indeed  be  kept  back,  but 
the  voice  of  reason  is  silenced.  To  complain  at  the  close  of  such  a 
life  is  to  complain  that  the  ripened  fruit  drops  from  the  overloaded 
bough,  that  the  golden  harvest  bends  to  the  sickle ;  it  is  to  complain 
of  the  law  of  our  existence,  and  to  accuse  the  Creator  that  He  did 
not  make  man  immortal  on  the  earth.  For  such  a  life  eloquence 
shall  lift  her  voice  and  poetry  shall  string  her  lyre.  For  such  a  man, 
praise,  honor,  imitation ;  but  not  tears !  Tears  for  him  who  has 
failed ;  tears  for  him  who  fainted  on  the  wayside ;  not  for  him  who 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER   OF   WILLIAM    A.    BUCKINGHAM.  25 

finished  the  journey;  tears  for  him  who,  through  his  fault  or  his  mis 
fortune,  omitted  to  employ  the  opportunities  that  were  given  to  him 
for  the  work  that  was  assigned  to  him,  not  for  him  who  had  died 
when  he  had  accomplished  that  for  which  he  lived. 

We  will  lament,  therefore,  in  no  complaining  spirit,  for  the  man 
whose  memory  we  celebrate  to-day.  With  our  grief  that  he  has 
died  shall  be  mingled  our  thankfulness  that  he  has  lived.  The  State 
that  he  served  so  faithfully  and  so  well,  in  the  time  of  our  greatest 
emergency,  proudly  lifts  his  name  and  inscribes  it  on  the  roll  of  her 
honored  and  remembered  sons.  And  the  history  of  that  State  can 
not  be  fairly  written  without  honorable  mention  of  his  character 
and  his  services.  The  Senate  which  he  informed  with  wise  counsels, 
which  he  adorned  with  dignity  of  manner  and  with  purity  of  life, 
bears  equal  testimony  to  his  abilities  and  to  his  virtues,  and  equal 
honor  to  his  memory. 

ADDRESS  OF  yVlR.  ^TEYENSON,  OF  J£ENTUCKT. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  I  rise  to  add  a  word  to  what  has  been  so  well 
and  so  eloquently  said  by  the  Senator  from  Connecticut  and  those 
who  followed  to  the  memory  of  his  late  colleague  and  our  departed 
brother. 

My  acquaintance  with  Governor  BUCKINGHAM  commenced  upon 
my  entrance  into  the  Senate  in  1871.  A  joint  service  with  him  upon 
the  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs  brought  us  closely  together,  and  I 
soon  learned  to  honor  and  respect  him.  I  shall  not  speak  of  his 
public  service  in  the  Senate ;  it  was  known  to  us  all ;  it  was  appre 
ciated  by  all. 

Governor  BUCKINGHAM  was  a  man  of  decided  character.  With 
out  brilliancy,  he  possessed  a  strong,  clear  judgment,  was  a  man  of 
decided  opinions  and  strong  convictions,  from  which  he  never 
swerved. 

He  was  eminently  industrious  and  attentive  to  his  official  duties, 


26  ADDRESS   OF   MR.    WRIGHT   ON  THE 

but  always  gentle  and  courteous  in  the  discharge  of  them.  But  his 
example,  Mr.  President,  to  the  Senate  and  to  the  world  possessed 
a  higher  value.  Earthly  distinction  is  of  "the  earth,  earthy;"  it 
attracts  and  dazzles  for  a  brief  period  and  then  passes  away  and 
perisheth;  but  a  conscience  void  of  offense  before  God  and  man  is 
an  inheritance  for  eternity.  And  such,  I  believe,  was  the  possession 
of  the  late  WILLIAM  A.  BUCKINGHAM.  His  religious  convictions 
were  of  the  highest  and  deepest  type.  No  irreverence,  no  frivolity,  no 
loud  professions  of  his  faith  ever  escaped  his  lips.  He  believed  that 
pure  religion  and  undented  before  God  and  the  Father  was  to  visit 
the  fatherless  and  widows  in  their  afflictions  and  to  keep  himself 
unspotted  from  the  world.  This  he  illustrated  in  his  daily  life;  this 
he  rejoiced  in  in  his  calm  and  quiet  life.  He  lived  in  hope;  he 
died  in  triumph. 

Mr.  President,  as  I  stood  but  a  few  days  ago  in  the  still,  quiet 
cemetery  of  that  beautiful  city  where  he  lived,  and  which  holds  now 
all  that  is  mortal  of  the  dead  Senator,  I  beheld  such  a  demonstration 
of  all  classes,  such  grief  as  filled  me  with  a  just  appreciation  of  how 
WILLIAM  A.  BUCKINGHAM  had  lived  and  how  WILLIAM  A.  BUCK 
INGHAM  had  died.  His  memory  will  be  cherished  so  long  as  the 
recollection  of  his  virtue,  his  faith,  and  his  fidelity  remains ;  and 
these  should  never  perish.  Senators,  we  shall  see  him  no  more; 
but  he  has  given  to  each  and  all  of  us  that  bright  example  to  be 
always  ready  at  the  summons  which  we  know  awaits  us  all. 


ADDRESS  OF  ^VLR.  BRIGHT,  OF  JOWA. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  Only  heart-words,  words  of  truth,  are  of  value  or 
to  be  weighed  by  speaker  or  hearer  on  such  an  occasion  as  that  now 
before  us.  And  to  me  not  the  least  gratifying  reflection  is  that  the 
highest  tribute  which  can  be  paid  our  late  colleague  is  that  the 
heart's  richest  and  warmest  promptings  and  utterances  may  be  and 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER   OF   WILLIAM    A.    BUCKINGHAM.  27 

are  those  of  entire  and  simple  truthfulness.  Still  it  remains  that  in 
this  presence,  remembering  as  we  do  his  manly  and  Christian 
bearing  as  a  citizen  and  Senator,  we  feel  how  poor  are  mere  words 
to  do  even  partial  justice  to  his  great  excellence  and  many  virtues. 

I  met  Governor  BUCKINGHAM  for  the  first  time  when  taking  my 
seat  in  this  Chamber  nearly  four  years  since.  I  was  then,  as  always 
afterward,  impressed,  as  I  know  all  were,  with  his  amiable  disposi 
tion,  sterling  worth,  his  devotion  to  right  and  duty,  his  unobtrusive 
manner,  his  ever  earnest  advocacy  of  the  cause  of  the  weak  and 
oppressed,  his  Christain  faith,  and,  what  was  far  more,  his  Chris 
tian  life. 

I  but  repeat  what  has  been  said  by  others  when  I  say  that  his 
work  here  was  not  so  much  in  mere  appearance  or  show  as  in  its 
quiet  and  practical  value  to  the  Senate  and  the  country.  Partici 
pating  in  our  debates  but  seldom,  he  nevertheless,  in  those  matters 
requiring  patient  industry,  tireless  investigation,  watchfulness,  the 
care  of  the  conscientious  business  man,  yea,  of  pure  purpose 
and  clear  brain  and  judgment,  was  ever  at  home,  had  but  few 
equals,  was  the  peer  of  any.  And  hence,  as  my  acquaintance 
ripened  into  warm  friendship,  and  I  came  to  know  more  and  more 
of  his  purity  of  purpose  and  the  thoroughness  of  his  investigations, 
if  in  doubt  as  to  my  course,  I  simply  asked  what  has  he  said  or 
advised,  what  was  his  vote,  and  followed  his  lead.  I  knew  his  path 
could  not  and  would  not  probably  lead  me  from  the  right,  could  not 
be  other  than  that  of  safety.  His  was  always  a  "  straight  road,"  and 
a  traveler  in  this  never  gets  lost. 

The  public  life  of  such  a  man  always  tells  for  the  welfare  of  the 
Republic.  The  public  measure  of  true  greatness  is  not  infrequently 
greatly  at  fault.  For  the  nation's  upbuilding,  for  the  nation's  quiet, 
for  the  nation's  strength,  for  the  nation's  perpetuity,  we  need  indus 
trious,  faithful,  practical,  and  not  merely  brilliant  official  life,  high 
and  practical  moral  worth  and  conduct,  rather  than  mere  cultivated 


28  ADDRESS   OF   MR.    WRIGHT   ON  THE 

brain  or  intellect,  indifferent  to  or  unmindful  of  the  only  safe  or 
reliable  element  and  basis  of  true  greatness.  Goodness  is  greatness. 
The  good  are  great.  Only  the  truly  good  can  be  truly  great. 
High,  true,  moral  worth  and  greatness  in  the  individual  and  the 
nation  are  hence  of  greater  value  in  securing  obedience  to  law,  the 
repression  of  any  and  all  spirit  of  violence,  guaranteeing  justice  to 
every  citizen  and  all  rights  to  all,  than  written  constitutions,  all 
statutes,  the  whole  police  power  of  the  Government.  To  one  thus 
imbued  the  nation  should  and  always  will  look  as  a  reliable  legis 
lator,  a  leader  to  be  safely  followed,  a  citizen  to  be  revered  and 
respected;  and  his  life-work  is  felt  not  alone  while  he,  though  ever 
so  modestly,  in  person  points  the  way,  but  in  the  nation's  coming 
or  after  years  as  well. 

Such  in  a  pre-eminent  degree  was  the  life  of  our  friend.  He  was 
a  conscientious  and  just  man,  just  to  his  political  opponents  and  to 
his  friends.  His  moral  character  lifted  him  above  the  criminations 
of  party  strife,  the  breath  of  suspicion  itself.  There  was  with  him 
always  a  wise  and  a  considerate  propriety  of  conduct,  a  love  of 
truth,  the  deepest  sense  of  moral  and  religious  obligation,  an 
unaffected  modesty,  the  absence  of  all  selfish  feelings,  a  benevolent 
and  kindly  charity,  which  was  both  a  principle  and  rule  of  his  life 
and  an  innate  sentiment  of  his  very  heart.  "  In  him  there  was  no 
glare,  nothing  to  dazzle,  but  an  abundance  of  that  pure,  mellow 
light  of  declining  evening  upon  which  we  all  love  to  look."  When 
the  sun  went  down  upon  such  a  life,  the  nation  justly  and  truly 
mourned.  His  was  a  worthy  and  noble  ambition.  He  filled  well 
and  honorably  the  highest  and  most  sacred  trusts.  Respected  and 
loved  by  his  State,  revered  by  all,  elected  to  and  taking  high  position 
in  the  highest  deliberative  body  of  the  world,  having  attained  what 
all  men  esteem,  almost  if  not  quite,  the  topmost  round  of  fame's  ever 
up-reaching  ladder,  he,  in  the  language  of  another,  "  stepped  thence 
to  the  skies."  Who  of  us  next  shall  join  him  ? 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   WILLIAM   A.    BUCKINGHAM.  29 

ADDRESS    OF    yVlR.    j^OWE,  OF    JVlSCONSIN. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  I  put  on  no  sable,  none  of  the  trappings  of  woe, 
to  stand  by  the  bier  of  BUCKINGHAM.  I  recall  no  single  trait  in  his 
character,  njD  incident  in  his  career,  to  bow  me  with  a  sense  of 
humiliation.  On  the  contrary,  the  memory  of  all  the  years  I  knew 
him  fills  me  with  exultation.  To  be  sure,  as  I  look  to  the  chair  he 
occupied,  I  miss  the  breathing  benediction  which  always  seemed  to 
emanate  from  it  while  he  sat  there.  As  I  look  into  the  saddened 
faces  of  the  Senate,  I  see  clearly  "he  is  not  here."  But  not  one 
angel  only,  a  multitude,  rather,  which  no  man  hath  numbered,  all  in 
shining  garments,  assure  me  "he  is  risen." 

And  then,  sir,  I  remember  with  grateful  pride  that  he  was  an 
American  Senator. 

I  need  not  remind  you  how  in  these  latter  years  calumny  has 
emptied  all  its  vials  upon  the  heads  of  public  men  and  upon  the 
endeavors  of  public  life.  It  has  really  seemed  at  times  as  if  the 
fountains  of  falsehood's  great  deeps  were  broken  up,  and  that 
society,  which  can  no  more  be  overwhelmed  by  floods,  was  to  be 
drowned  by  detraction.  A  friend  told  me  that  when  traveling 
along  a  railway  in  New  England  two  years  ago,  she  heard  a  fellow- 
traveler  declare  with  emphasis  his  settled  belief  that  there  was  not 
an  honest  man  in  either  House  of  Congress.  But  BUCKINGHAM 
was  then  here.  And  who  of  all  who  knew  him  will  doubt  that  when 
he  left  us,  as  white  a  soul  as  ever  passed  the  pearly  gates,  went  from 
the  Senate  to  his  waiting  seat  among  the  seraphim  ? 

It  is  but  a  modest  space  which  his  utterances  occupy  in  the 
records  of  our  deliberations.  But  meager  as  it  is,  we  could  illy 
afford  to  spare  them  from  that  record.  What  he  said,  he  considered 
well ;  and  he  had  that  rare  wisdom  which  is  born  of  steady  judg 
ment,  ripe  experience,  unerring  conscience,  and  patriotic  purpose. 

Could  he  have  taken  a  transcript  of  those  utterances  with  him  he 


30  ADDRESS    OF    MR.    HOWE    ON   THE 

would  have  needed  no  other  evidence  upon  which  to  challenge  that 
prize  he  most  coveted — the  final  reward  of  his  Creator  of  "Well 
done,  good  and  faithful." 

Nay,  sir,  could  those  readiest  of  all  writers,  who  photograph  the 
daily  debates  of  the  Senate,  have  accompanied  him  constantly  and 
so  have  furnished  a  transcript  of  his  daily  conversation,  he  might,  I 
fondly  believe,  have  taken  the  whole  with  him  as  the  picture  of  a 
life  directed  to  the  loftiest  aims,  guided  by  a  gentle  courtesy  which 
lured  a  world  to  follow,  and  inspired  by  a  generous  toleration  which 
wholly  disarmed  the  envy,  and  half  consoled  the  chagrin,  of  all  who 
failed  to  keep  pace  with  him. 

I  do  not  mean  to  detain  the  Senate  by  the  attempt  to  sketch  his 
characteristics ;  that  would  be  needless  if  it  were  not  vain.  What 
rhetoric  can  do  to  embalm  those  characteristics  has  been  fitly  done. 
Posterity  may  drink  new  inspirations  from  the  record  of  the  testi 
mony  which  the  Senate  this  day  bears  to  the  worth  of  a  colleague. 
We  are  privileged  to  remember  what  posterity  can  only  read.  Ours 
is  the  higher  privilege.  Speech  is  not  quite  adequate  to  portray 
a  character  so  simple  and  so  grand  as  that  we  commemorate.  He 
was  his  own  best  expositor.  One  who  has  stood  before  the  broad, 
open,  clear,  pure,  white  corolla  of  the  Victoria  regia  is  not  apt  to  be 
enthused  by  any  description  of  it,  however  faithful.  We  have  seen 
BUCKINGHAM,  and  lived  and  worked  with  him. 

One  incident  in  his  life  I  will  venture  to  recall,  which  not  inaptly 
illustrates  his  enduring  excellence.  By  command  of  the  Senate,  I 
was  with  others  assigned  but  three  years  ago  to  aid  the  deceased  on 
the  investigation  of  alleged  abuses  in  the  customs  service  in  New 
York.  It  was  an  irksome  task,  yet  we  prosecuted  it  for  weeks. 
Daily  we  were  splashed  with  the  foul  humors  engendered  in  the 
glandered  politics  of  a  great  city.  Malice  unwound  a  hideous  web 
before  us,  shot  with  a  thread  of  fact  to  a  shuttleful  of  falsehood. 

During  the  whole  trial  I  did  not  once  hear  from  him  a  censorious 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   WILLIAM    A.    BUCKINGHAM.  31 

remark  or  even  a  petulant  exclamation.  It  was  evident  he  was 
human  and  that  he  felt.  Occasionally,  when  the  manifestations 
were  especially  spiteful,  his  countenance  would  wear  that  mingled 
expression  of  pain  and  resignation  which  art  has  so  long  and  so  vainly 
toiled  to  reproduce  in  some  ecce  homo — that  look,  half  willing  and 
half  shrinking,  which  one  fancies  the  shuddering  Saviour  wore  as 
there  broke  from  his  lips  the  supplication,  "  If  it  be  possible,  let  this 
cup  pass  from  me."  "Nevertheless,  not  my  will,  but  thine  be 
done."  But  the  poultice  of  a  night  relieved  the  suffering,  and  each 
succeeding  day  restored  him  to  his  work,  showing  no  more  trace  of 
scars  from  the  inflictions  of  the  yesterdays  than  the  sun  bore  which 
lighted  him  to  his  work. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  long  felt  to  regret  that  I  never  heard  Jenny 
Lind  sing,  that  I  never  saw  Rachel  act.  They  must  have  been 
marvelous  specimens  of  art.  Governor  BUCKINGHAM  was  a  grand 
piece  of  nature.  I  shall  always  regret  that  I  could  not  have  known 
him  in  domestic  life.  I  am  persuaded  that  was  his  masterpiece.  I 
never  saw  him  in  the  presence  of  a  child.  But  I  partly  know  what 
he  was  as  a  father.  Once  he  spoke  to  me  of  a  daughter,  and  no 
June  morning  ever  suffused  the  eastern  sky  with  a  more  genial 
radiance  than  that  which  broke  over  the  face  of  the  father  as  he  told 
me  how  good  that  daughter  was. 

Sir,  I  should  wrong  the  memory  of  Governor  BUCKINGHAM  and 
grieve  his  truthful  spirit,  only  that  his  spirit  is  beyond  the  reach  of 
grief,  if  I  should  neglect  to  bear  testimony  to  one  thing.  There  is 
in  this  unbelieving  generation  a  loud,  if  not  a  large  element,  desper 
ate  if  not  devilish,  hoping  nothing  here  and  fearing  nothing  here 
after,  which  screams  with  derision  of  the  Christian  statesman! 
Standing  by  the  grave  of  Governor  BUCKINGHAM  I  must  not  forget 
to  tell  the  world  that  he  was  what  I  have  never  dared  pretend  to  be — 
a  Christian  statesman. 

Mr.  President,  do  not  imagine  because  I  am  so  filled  with  boast- 


32  ADDRESS    OF    MR.    HOWE   ON   THE 

ing  of  the  illustrious  dead  that  I  for  a  moment  forget  he  is  dead. 
These  fond  memories,  bright  as  they  are,  cannot  delude  me  into  for- 
getfulness  that  memories  are  all  we  have  left  of  him.  Sir,  I  am  not 
at  all  insensible  to  the  greatness  of  our  loss. 

I  have  met  with  a  personal  loss.  He  made  me  feel  he  was  my 
friend,  and  I  believe  still  he  was  my  friend.  But  there  was  no  rea 
son  why  he  should  be,  except  in  that  broad  and  liberal  sense  in 
which  he  was  the  friend  of  everybody.  Still,  if  I  knew  the  idea  of 
his  personal  regard  was  a  delusion,  it  is  so  sweet  a  delusion  I  should 
cling  to  it  and  should  still  feel  that  I  had  lost  the  society  of  a  cher 
ished  friend. 

The  Senate  has  lost  an  associate  upon  whose  counsels  it  was  apt 
to  lean  and  in  whose  companionship  it  did  always  delight. 

The  country  has  lost  the  services  of  a  statesman  upon  whose  wis 
dom,  whose  experience,  whose  unflinching  courage,  unfaltering 
integrity,  and  unswerving  patriotism  she  had  learned  to  rely. 

The  State  of  Connecticut  has  lost  a  citizen  whom  she  was 
delighted  to  honor.  All  these  losses  are  very  heavy.  But  have  we 
a  right  to  repine  at  such  losses  ?  He  was  spared  to  us  so  long ;  he 
had  just  filled  up  his  three-score  and  ten  years.  Surely  we  ought  to 
consent  to  a  return  of  even  the  richest  of  God's  loans  at  some  time. 

And  then  he  was  so  exactly  ripe.  The  suns  of  seventy  summers 
had  set  their  seal  upon  him.  All  had  mellowed,  not  one  had 
parched  him.  He  stood  upon  the  summit  of  the  long  ascent,  not 
travel-worn,  not  spent  with  toil,  but  new-breathed  and  fresh  in  spirit, 
with  all  the  brightest  hopes  that  blossomed  on  his  youth  not  faded 
but  fruited  in  that  grand  but  simple  faith  which  sustained  and 
guided  his  maturer  years.  He  seemed  to  us  rather  "  as  if  an  angel 
dropped  down  from  the  clouds  "  than  a  man  climbed  up  from  the 
valley. 

Sir,  our  losses  may  be  calculated,  though  not  readily.  Indeed 
they  may  be  repaired,  though  not  easily. 


LIFE   AND    CHARACTER   OF   WILLIAM    A.    BUCKINGHAM.  33 

There  is,  however,  in  that  busy  Connecticut  a  family  circle 
broken  up  by  a  loss  which  cannot  be  calculated  or  repaired  by  mere 
human  appliances.  I  could  not  forget  on  this  occasion  that  there 
are  such  sufferers,  yet  I  know  it  does  not  belong  to  such  as  I  to 
speak  to  them. 

A  friend  told  me  but  a  few  weeks  since  that  it  happened  to  him 
one  day  last  summer  to  discover,  while  at  dinner,  that  himself 
and  his  daughter  were  to  start  for  a  distant  city  over  the  same 
highway  by  different  trains,  leaving  only  an  hour  apart.  The 
family  smiled  at  the  coincidence. 

We  cannot  now  lift  up  those  who  bend  over  the  grave  of  BUCK 
INGHAM  ;  but  we  can  comfort  ourselves  with  the  assurance  that  the 
same  great  faith  which  always  sustained  him,  will  in  time  enable 
those  who  mourn  him  to  lift  the  curtain  which  separates  two 
worlds,  and  then  they  will  see  that  the  departed  is  but  one  with 
whom  it  is  a  dear  delight  to  travel,  who  has  taken  an  earlier  train 
for  a  common  destination. 


ADDRESS    OF    yVlR.     THURMAN,   OF  pHIO. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  I  can  do  no  more  than  express  my  high  appre 
ciation  of  the  character  of  the  deceased  as  it  was  manifested  during 
the  years  he  sat  among  us.  My  acquaintance  with  him  began  when 
he  entered  the  Senate,  and  the  friendly  relations  that  soon  followed 
were  never  marred  by  any  difference  of  opinion,  however  great.  I 
always  found  him  polite,  amiable,  and  ready  to  oblige — a  noble  spe 
cimen  of  a  true  gentleman.  I  always  found  him  an  industrious  and 
careful  legislator,  distinguished  by  an  excellent  judgment,  and  natu 
rally  inclined,  I  believe,  to  moderation.  Earnest  in  the  discharge 
of  his  duties,  he  was  never  obtrusive,  never  presumptuous,  and 


3  B 


34  ADDRESS   OF   MR.    PRATT   ON  THE 

never  said  a  word  calculated  to  inflict  a  wound.  And  hence,  when 
he  last  walked  from  this  Chamber  he  left  no  one  within  its  walls 
who  did  not  feel  for  him  respect,  kindness,  and  esteem.  A  Senator 
of  whom  after  years  of  service  this  can  truly  be  said  needs  little 
more  of  eulogy.  There  is  so  much  to  create  passion,  prejudice,  or 
ill-will  in  the  contests  imposed  upon  us  by  a  discharge  of  our  duties, 
that  he  who  finishes  his  senatorial  career  with  the  universal  good 
will  and  respect  of  his  brethren  is  most  surely  a  character  that  merits 
commemoration  and  honor. 


ADDRESS    OF    y\A.R.     ^RATT,   OF    JNDIANA. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  Twice  has  death  entered  this  Chamber  during 
the  Forty-third  Congress  and  taken  from  our  midst  associates  with 
whom  we  held  daily  counsel.  Twice  with  unerring  aim  has  he 
struck  down  those  we  honored  for  their  wisdom,  admired  for  their 
virtues,  and  who  commanded  our  respect  by  the  fidelity  with  which 
they  performed  their  public  duties  here. 

When  the  first  one  fell  it  was  as  when  a  monarch  tree  falls,  with 
out  warning,  in  the  silent  forest.  Far  and  wide  the  vibrations 
reach.  In  his  case  they  crossed  the  ocean,  and  their  echoes  only 
ceased  when  the  limit  was  reached  where  the  language  in  which  he 
clothed  his  thoughts  is  spoken.  In  him  were  centered  genius,  learn 
ing,  culture,  experience,  profound  conviction,  and  purity  of  soul. 
All  the  world  reached  by  his  fame  said  a  great  man  had  fallen. 

Scarcely  had  we  accustomed  ourselves  to  the  absence  from  his 
well-known  seat  in  this  Chamber  of  Charles  Sumner,  when  the  insa 
tiate  archer  aimed  his  fatal  shaft  at  another  shining  mark,  and 
to-day  we  mourn  the  death  of  WILLIAM  A.  BUCKINGHAM.  Putting 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER   OF   WILLIAM   A.    BUCKINGHAM.  35 

aside  our  daily  tasks,  we  have  set  apart  this  hour  to  pay  such 
respect  as  feeble  words  will  permit  to  the  memory  of  this  honored 
public  servant  and  eminently  good  man  whose  face  we  shall  see  no 
more.  We  turn  instinctively  to  that  vacant  chair  he  occupied ;  we 
recall  the  white  crown,  emblem  of  purity,  which  he  who  filled  it 
wore ;  the  benevolent  face,  the  kind  manner,  the  uniform  courtesy 
which  were  always  his.  We  cannot  realize  that  this  familiar  pres 
ence  is  forever  gone  from  our  midst.  With  me  it  is  a  melancholy 
pleasure  to  have  the  opportunity  to  speak  a  few  sad  words  of  the 
deceased  which  shall  testify  of  the  respect  in  which  I  held  him  while 
living,  and  the  honor  in  which  I  hold  his  memory. 

I  wish  it  were  in  my  power,  sir,  to  paint  in  true  colors  his  portrait 
and  hold  up  to  others  who  knew  him  less  those  rare  traits  of  charac 
ter  and  courtesies  of  manner  which  made  him  at  once  an  object  of 
deepest  respect  and  love. 

I  met  him  first  in  this  Chamber  nearly  six  years  ago,  and  while 
many  of  his  associates  may  lay  claim  to  a  greater  intimacy  than  I 
enjoyed,  no  one,  I  feel  sure,  more  sincerely  mourns  his  loss.  With 
perfect  truth  I  can  say,  that  in  all  the  acquaintances  I  have  formed 
with  public  men  since  coming  to  this  Capitol,  no  one  has  impressed 
me  more  strongly  as  being  thoroughly  conscientious  and  honest  in 
his  public  and  private  life  than  Mr.  BUCKINGHAM. 

He  was  a  statesman  in  the  best  sense  of  that  term.  What  makes 
a  statesman  ?  Not  knowledge  alone,  however  wide,  deep,  varied,  and 
all-comprehensive ;  not  mere  quickness  of  apprehension  to  detect  the 
latent  fallacy  in  argument  or  proposition ;  not  large  experience  with 
men  and  subjects  in  the  legislative  forum,  nor  familiarity  with  parlia 
mentary  rules;  it  does  not  consist  alone  in  great  powers  of  debate. 
All  these  may  co-exist,  and  yet  something  be  wanting  to  complete  our 
beau  idtol  of  the  statesman.  What  is  the  lack  ?  What  is  still  want 
ing?  I  reply,  perfect  integrity,  broad  philanthropy,  and  an  ardent 
patriotism,  which,  discarding  selfish  aims  and  local  benefits,  seek  to 


36  ADDRESS    OF    MR.    PRATT    ON    THE 

elevate  the  whole  people,  to  make  them  wiser  and  better,  and  to  pro 
mote  their  material  welfare. 

Such  statesmanship  in  our  exterior  relations  avoids  wars  and  re 
moves  all  causes  of  war.  It  cultivates  friendly  relations  and  seeks 
no  unjust  advantages;  and  in  our  domestic  concerns  frames  equal 
and  just  laws,  favoring  no  classes,  but  providing  for  the  well-being 
and  happiness  of  all. 

Statesmanship  of  this  stamp  ignores  State  lines  in  our  national 
legislation,  and  regards  the  whole  brotherhood  of  States  with  equal 
favor,  and  dispenses  equal  justice  and  benefits  to  all. 

I  do  not  mean  that  it  forgets  or  should  forget  the  past  so  far  as 
precaution  is  necessary  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of  disturbances 
affecting  the  well-being  of  the  whole;  nor  that  it  should  omit  the 
most  stringent  remedies  to  curb  the  lawless  and  repress  violence. 
But  statesmanship  harbors  no  malice  nor  resentments,  but  seeks  to 
forget  the  animosities  engendered  by  war  and  to  build  up  the  waste 
places. 

To  this  highest  type  of  statesmanship  he  belonged  whose  memory 
we  honor  to-day.  He  was  not  a  great  orator,  upon  whose  utterances 
men  hung  with  bated  breath ;  he  did  not  mingle  frequently  in  debate; 
he  did  not  aspire  to  the  honor  of  leadership,  nor  was  his  education  as 
comprehensive  as  that  of  many.  He  made  no  pretense  to  superior 
mental  culture.  But  he  possessed  that  practical  knowledge  of  the 
affairs  of  the  country;  its  varied  industries  and  wants;  its  internal 
and  foreign  commerce ;  its  growing  manufactures ;  its  vast  agricul 
tural  and  mineral  resources,  and  especially  that  knowledge  of  our 
relations  with  the  various  Indian  tribes,  to  which  subject  he  gave  so 
much  of  his  attention  as  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Indian 
Affairs,  as  to  eminently  qualify  him  to  be  a  judicious  adviser  in  this 
body  and  to  frame  appropriate  laws  upon  these  subjects. 

Without  making  any  pretense  to  the  graces  of  oratory,  he  possessed 
the  faculty  of  setting  forth  his  views  in  a  way  all  could  understand. 


LIFE   AND    CHARACTER   OF    WILLIAM    A.    BUCKINGHAM. 


37 


With  this  was  coupled  that  sincerity  of  manner  that  made  all  men 
respect  if  they  could  not  adopt  his  views. 

And  while  dwelling  upon  his  course  in  this  "Chamber  let  me  allude 
to  another  matter.  Debates  sometimes  engender  heat  and  hasty 
speech.  But  who  can  forget  his  unvarying  courtesy  ?  Who  ever 
saw  him  forget  for  a  single  moment  the  propriety  of  debate?  Who 
ever  heard  fall  from  his  lips  a  word  calculated  to  offend  or  wound  ? 
Who  ever  saw  his  brow  cloud  with  anger  or  his  face  flush  with  sud 
den  passion  ?  Who  ever  suspected  him  of  equivocation  or  double- 
dealing  ?  No,  sir ;  he  was  the  soul  of  truth — the  embodiment  of 
honor.  In  him  centered  the  virtues  which  make  up  the  Christian 
gentleman. 

I  do  not  undertake  to  enter  upon  the  history  of  his  life  before  he 
came  here.  That  work  has  been  done  by  his  colleague.  It  is  enough 
to  know  that  he  was  a  self-made  man,  springing  from  humble  life, 
with  imperfect  early  advantages.  He  was  first  a  farmer,  then  a  mer 
chant,  then  a  manufacturer,  before  his  fellow-citizens  called  him  to 
a  higher  sphere  of  action.  They  wisely  judged  that  he  who  with 
such  intelligence  and  probity  managed  his  private  affairs  might 
safely  be  trusted  with  the  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the  Com 
monwealth.  For  eight  years  we  know,  by  successive  elections,  he 
filled  the  office  of  chief  magistrate  of  the  State  of  Connecticut. 
This  long  term  of  service  covered  a  period  of  great  trial  and  respon 
sibility,  when  the  civil  war  that  was  raging  imposed  upon  the  execu 
tives  of  the  States  duties  of  greatest  magnitude.  He  belonged  to 
that  noble  fraternity  of  war-governors  upon  whom  Mr.  Lincoln 
leaned  for  support  in  the  darkest  hours  of  the  war.  How  Governor 
BUCKINGHAM  performed  these  duties,  how  he  pledged  his  own  ample 
estate  to  put  the  military  forces  of  Connecticut  into  the  field,  we  all 
know. 

When  the  war  was  over  and  peace  returned,  the  gratitude,  the 
confidence,  the  love  of  his  people  sent  him  here  to  represent  them  in 


38  ADDRESS   OF   MR.    PRATT   ON  THE 

the  highest  legislative  forum  of  the  country.  With  what  fidelity  he 
performed  this  his  last  and  highest  trust,  you,  my  fellow-Senators, 
are  the  witnesses. 

Advanced  years  invited  him  to  repose.  He  possessed  fortune  and 
friends.  He  could  well  have  claimed  that  he  had  done  his  full  share 
of  public  duty  and  earned  a  good  title  to  be  retired,  but  the  habits  of 
a  life  of  active  usefulness  would  not  allow  him  to  do  this.  From  the 
early  morning  of  life,  all  through  its  meridian  and  afternoon,  he  had 
been  a  faithful  worker ;  and  he  could  not  lay  aside  the  habits  which 
had  grown  to  be  part  of  his  nature,  when  the  evening  approached, 
and  so,  it  may  be  said  of  him,  he  died  in  the  harness. 

Contact  with  the  world,  its  jostlings  and  collisions,  had  no  effect 
to  mar  the  simplicity  of  his  character  or  cool  the  warmth  of  his  heart. 
That  retained  a  freshness  almost  boyish.  Though  he  had  climbed 
far  up  the  Alpine  heights,  so  that  the  glistening  peak  was  near  at 
hand,  and  winter  snows  all  around  him,  he  looked  down  upon  the 
valleys  below  glowing  with  tropical  gorgeousness,  and  sympathized 
with  the  joyousness  of  earth's  youth,  the  laughter  of  children,  the 
music  of  birds,  the  joy  and  hope  and  universal  gladness,  without 
envy  or  a  sigh  that  he  could  not  descend  but  must  hold  on  his  way 
until  the  bleak  summit  was  reached. 

The  cold  winds  which  made  havoc  with  his  gray  hairs  and  chilled 
the  surface,  could  not  reach  the  warm  heart  which  beat  beneath. 

Rare  old  and  yet  young  man !  long  shall  we  miss  that  face  radiant 
with  goodness;  that  courtesy  which  never  varied,  that  manner  void 
of  all  pretension,  that  wisdom  and  probity  which  promptly  met  and 
solved  the  problems,  many  and  full  of  difficulty,  which  rose  here. 
In  his  life  he  was  a  model  to  be  studied  by  those  who  doubt  the 
power  of  truth,  of  frankness,  and  straightforwardness  to  win  the 
highest  prizes  which  men  seek.  He  has  gone  to  his  rest,  full  of  hon 
ors  and  ripe  in  years,  without  an  enemy  and  without  a  blot.  From 
far  and  near  the  people  of  his  native  State  gathered  at  his  funeral 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER  OF   WILLIAM   A.    BUCKINGHAM.  39 

to  pay  the  last  tribute  of  respect.  Ere  long  there  will  rise  in  yonder 
Congressional  Cemetery,  so  beautiful  in  its  surroundings,  a  monu 
ment  to  commemorate  that  another  member  of  Congress  has  passed 
away  during  his  term  of  service.  On  it  I  would  have  inscribed, 
under  the  name  of  our  departed  friend,  "  He  feared  God,  he  loved 
his  fellow-man,  he  tried  to  do  his  duty." 


ADDRESS    OF    yVlR.    JNGALLS,   OF    JKANSAS. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  To  the  student  of  our  political  system,  the  Amer 
ican  Senate  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  significant  institutions 
of  our  Government.  Itsinembers  change,  vanish,  and  disappear, 
but  like  the  king,  it  never  dies.  Amid  the  mutations  and  vicissitudes 
of  our  national  affairs,  so  far  as  anything  human  can  be  immutable, 
it  continues  stable  and  permanent.  It  has  no  periods  nor  epochs. 
Administration  follows  administration,  and  Congress  succeeds  Con 
gress,  like  fast-ensuing  waves,  but  the  Senate  flows  onward  in  an 
unbroken  current  through  our  history  like  the  Gulf  Stream,  that 
majestic  ocean-river,  amid  the  fluctuations  of  the  sea. 

It  is  the  same  body  to-day  that  assembled  at  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution.  It  has  no  interregnum  nor  end  of  days.  Its  functions 
never  cease.  Bora  with  the  birth  of  the  nation,  it  has  gro.wn  with 
its  growth  and  will  end  only  with  its  death.  Administrations  close, 
and  their  history  can  be  written.  Congresses  adjourn,  and  the  ver 
dict  of  their  labors  can  be  recorded  and  their  influence  upon  the 
country  measured  and  estimated,  but  the  history  of  the  Senate  is  the 
history  of  the  Republic. 

When  the  "  inevitable  hour  "  arrives,  which  is  common  to  nations 
as  to  individuals,  and  the  destiny  of  America  has  been  accomplished ; 
when  the  representatives  of  the  people  shall  finally  adjourn  and 


40  ADDRESS    OF    MR.    INGALLS   ON   THE 

depart  from  these  Halls  forever,  and  the  great  dome  in  whose 
shadow  we  assemble  shall  be  surrendered  to  decay,  those  who  for 
the  last  time  depart  from  this  Chamber  will  be  the  lineal  successors 
of  those  who  first  took  the  oath  as  Senators  of  the  United  States. 

Removed  by  these  conditions  of  its  existence  from  the  vehement 
agitation,  flame,  and  passion  of  popular  elections,  though  not  suffi 
ciently  remote  to  be  insensible  to  public  opinion,  the  Senate  repre 
sents  what  is  most  stable  and  deliberate  in  the  national  judgment. 
Its  orbit  resists  the  perturbations  and  disturbances  to  which  the 
other  members  of  the  system  are  subject,  and  marks  the  definite 
path  of  the  progress  of  the  nation. 

From  the  nature  of  its  functions,  the  character  of  its  deliberations 
is  largely  determined.  The  rancor  of  partisanship  is  dulled.  The 
wildest  excesses  of  the  champions  of  popular  rights  are  curbed. 
Courtesy  and  decorum  are  the  rule  of  debate,  and  the  purpose  of 
the  orator  is  less  to  rouse  the  passions  than  to  convince  the  judg 
ment. 

The  dead  Senator  whose  virtues  we  here  recall  possessed  in  an 
eminent  degree  the  qualities  that  should  pertain  to  that  high  office. 

As  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs,  of  which  he 
was  chairman,  it  was  my  good  fortune  to  be  brought  for  a  brief 
space  into  friendly  and  intimate  relations  with  Governor  BUCKING 
HAM,  and  the  memory  of  his  virtues  will  always  remain  among  the 
most  valued  reminiscences  of  my  life. 

Entering  the  public  service  at  a  period  past  the  maturity  of  his 
years,  without  special  training  or  previous  legislative  experience,  he 
did  not  aspire  to  eminence  in  debate,  nor  strive  for  the  triumphs  of 
oratory,  but  was  distinguished  for  practical  judgment  in  affairs  of 
state,  and  for  a  purity  of  purpose  that  was  never  surpassed  among 
the  servants  of  the  Republic. 

While  the  powers  of  his  intellect  were  upon  a  high  plane,  yet  were 
I  called  upon  to  define  the  impression  that  remains  strongest  with 


LIFE* AND    CHARACTER   OF   WILLIAM   A.    BUCKINGHAM.  41 

me,  I  should  say  it  was  that  of  incomparable  rectitude  and  integrity. 
To  do  right  seemed  less  a  dictate  of  conscience  than  an  inevitable 
law  of  his  being.  Without  disparagement  to  others,  and  with  no 
faith  in  the  vulgar  imputations  upon  the  mortality  of  public  men, 
there  was  a  conspicuous  luster  in  the  soul  of  Governor  BUCKINGHAM 
that  impressed  all  who  were  brought  within  the  scope  of  his  influ 
ence. 

Micat  inter  omnes 
Velut  inter  ignes  Luna  minores. 

The  rewards  of  gratified  ambition  and  the  applause  of  mankind 
possess  allurements  that  few  who  can  obtain  them  are  able  to 
resist;  but  there  is  an  hour  which  comes  to  all  when  they  lose  their 
power,  and  are  as  valueless  as  the  vanished  breath  from  which  they 
sprang. 

At  the  dark  portals  of  the  grave,  the  vestibule  of  the  world  to 
come,  it  is  better  to  have  been  good  than  to  have  been  great.  Mr. 
President,  as  we  reflect  upon  the  strange  problem  of  human  life,  we 
are  impressed  with  its  incompleteness.  Everything  is  fragmentary. 
Nothing  is  perfected.  Man  dies,  leaving  the  labor  of  his  life  unfin 
ished,  and  his  works  do  follow  him.  It  is  an  admonition  and  a 
warning,  but  not  without  prophecy ;  not  without  hope  that  some 
future  career  of  renewed  activity  may  perfect  the  destiny  interrupted 
here.  To  this  law  of  our  existence  the  career  of  Governor  BUCK 
INGHAM  was  an  apparent  exception.  The  orb  of  his  life  was  nearly 
rounded ;  he  had  reached  the  allotted  period  of  existence  without 
abatement  of  his  powers ;  fortune  favored  his  labors,  and  the 
wealth  which  his  industry  had  accumulated  was  distributed  by 
benevolence ;  and  those  to  whom  he  was  most  endeared  had  pre 
ceded  him  to  the  land  of  shadows ;  his  State  recognized  his  claim 
to  the  highest  civic  honors,  and  the  nation,  by  the  obsequies  which 
we  here  solemnize,  transmits  his  memory  as  a  priceless  heritage,  a 
stimulus,  and  an  example  to  the  latest  generation  of  American  cit 
izens. 


42  ADDRESS   OF   MR.    MORTON   ON    THE 


ADDRESS    OF   ^VlR.    yVLORTON,  OF    JNDIAKA. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  If  I  was  called  upon  to  state  the  distinguishing 
characteristics  of  Governor  BUCKINGHAM,  I  should  agree  with  the 
Senator  from  Kansas  that  they  were  his  high  conscientiousness  at  all 
times  and  under  all  circumstances,  and  his  charity.  It  seemed  to  me 
that  Governor  BUCKINGHAM  always  tried  to  do  right,  and  that  that 
consideration  was  ever  uppermost  in  his  mind.  He  had  charity  for 
all;  he  attributed  good  motives  to  all,  and  to  those  who  differed 
from  him  the  most  widely  in  politics  he  attributed  patriotism  and 
integrity.  I  never  heard  him  say  an  evil  word  of  any  human  being. 
He  was  a  man  of  strong  sense.  He  discussed  questions  on  this  floor 
not  generally  from  a  legal  stand-point,  for  he  was  not  a  lawyer,  but 
oftener  from  a  moral  point  of  view,  from  a  common-sense  and  a  busi 
ness  point  of  view.  He  was  industrious,  and  his  purpose  was  always 
to  do  his  duty  in  small  things  as  well  as  in  great. 

What  more,  Mr.  President,  can  I  say  in  addition  to  what  has 
already  been  better  said  by  others,  unless  it  be  one  or  two  things 
somewhat  of  a  personal  character  ? 

I  first  met  Governor  BUCKINGHAM  when  he  took  his  seat  in  this 
body  on  the  4th  of  March,  1869.  I  felt  from  the  first  that  we  were 
friends,  and  we  were.  He  always  expressed  a  deep  interest  in  my 
health ;  his  inquiries  were  always  tender  and  almost  from  day  to  day. 
Though  I  had  never  met  Governor  BUCKINGHAM  until  that  time, 
yet  we  had  been  in  correspondence  years  before  under  circumstances 
of  a  most  solemn  character.  It  was,  I  think,  in  the  summer  of  1862, 
a  few  weeks,  perhaps  a  month,  before  the  issue  of  the  proclama 
tion  of  emancipation  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  that  I  received  a  lengthy  let 
ter  from  Governor  BUCKINGHAM,  in  which  he  discussed  the  general 
situation  of  the  country.  It  was  at  a  gloomy  period,  when  victory 
was  not  resting  upon  our  arms.  Toward  the  close  of  the  letter  he 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   WILLIAM   A.    BUCKINGHAM.  43 

suggested  the  question  whether  the  Government  was  doing  its  duty 
in  regard  to  the  institution  of  slavery,  and  whether  we  could  hope 
for  ultimate  victory  while  that  institution  was  protected  and  pre 
served  ;  but  he  expressed  himself  as  uncertain  as  to  whether  the 
time  had  arrived  when  any  step  could  be  taken  toward  its  destruction. 
He  said  that  he  had  had  an  interview  or  a  letter-*-!  forget  which — 
but  recently,  from  Governor  Andrew,  of  Massachusetts,  which  had 
led  him  to  write  me  on  the  subject.  In  replying  I  agreed  with  him 
upon  the  main  suggestion  of  his  letter,  expressing  the  same  doubt, 
however,  as  to  whether  the  time  was  ripe,  whether  public  opinion 
was  in  that  condition  to  authorize  the  President  of  the  United  States 
to  take  the  decisive  step  which  he  afterward  took. 

During  my  intercourse  with  Governor  BUCKINGHAM  as  a  member 
of  this  body  he  often  talked  to  me  about  his  experience  as  governor 
during  the  war.  We  often  compared  notes  upon  that  subject.  He 
evidently  regarded  his  services  as  governor  of  Connecticut  during 
the  war  as  the  great  event  of  his  life,  and  on  several  occasions 
expressed  his  doubts  as  to  whether  it  was  wise  or  expedient  for  him 
to  accept  a  seat  in  this  body,  and  whether  he  ought  not  to  have  retired 
from  public  life  when  the  war  was  over. 

Just  before  the  close  of  the  last  session,  and  before  his  departure, 
he  came  across  to  my  seat  where  I  am  now  sitting,  and  said,  "  Well, 
we  are  about  to  separate.  I  hope  we  will  meet  next  winter  in 
better  health."  He  said,  "  I  am  an  old  man,  and  feel  that  my  race 
is  nearly  run."  He  said,  "There  are  only  three  of  us  left  who 
served  as  governor  of  our  respective  States  throughout  the  entire 
war,"  referring  to  himself,  to  Governor  Curtin,  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
to  myself.  He  said  that  Yates  and  Andrew  were  gone,  and  that 
we,  notwithstanding  our  utmost  hopes,  must  soon  follow ;  and  tak 
ing  me  by  the  hand  expressed  the  hope  that  we  should  meet  the 
coming  winter  in  better  health.  We  parted  to  meet  no  more. 


44  ADDRESS    OF    MR.    EATON   ON    THE 

ADDRESS    OF    yVlR.    ^ATON,   OF    pONNECTICUT. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  I  rise  not  for  the  purpose  of  addressing  the 
Senate,  but  for  the  purpose  of  offering  an  additional  resolution. 
Connecticut,  by  the  voice  of  my  distinguished  friend  and  associate, 
[Mr.  FERRY,]  has  pronounced  a  fitting  eulogium  upon  her  honored 
dead.  Many  Senators  have  spoken  here  in  fitting  terms  of  his  char 
acter  and  of  his  many  virtues.  But  a  word,  sir,  and  I  shall  be 
done. 

Governor  BUCKINGHAM  came  late  into  public  life,  and  shortly 
after  entering  upon  it  there  arose  grave  and  great  questions  upon 
which  men  antagonized.  Though  many  years  younger  than  he,  I 
had  been  somewhat  in  public  life.  My  political  convictions  differed 
from  the  convictions  of  our  deceased  friend.  I  am  glad  to  say  here 
that  however  much  they  differed,  though  we  were  not  intimate,  yet 
our  personal  relations  were  always  friendly.  And,  sir,  I  will  say 
here,  and  I  ask  for  no  higher  eulogium  upon  myself  either  from 
political  foe  or  personal  friend,  that  whatever  WILLIAM  A.  BUCKING 
HAM  did  in  the  line  of  his  duty,  he  did  it  in  all  honor  and  in  all 
honesty.  If  there  were  differences  of  opinion  between  him  and 
some  of  his  fellow-citizens,  those  differences  to-day  are  cast  into  the 
great  lumber-room  of  the  past  and  are  forgotten.  He  was  a  gentle 
man — a  kindly  gentleman.  Blessed  with  large  wealth,  he  showered 
it  upon  the  needy.  True  to  his  friends,  true  to  his  convictions,  true 
to  those  great  principles  which  should  govern  us  all,  he  went  down 
to  the  grave  an  honest  man.  Noble  heart,  farewell !  Pure,  gentle 
spirit,  fare  thee  well!  The  earth  which  bears  thee  dead  bears  not 
alive  a  truer  gentleman. 

Mr.  President,  I  beg  leave  to  offer  this  resolution : 

Resolved,  That  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  for  the  memory  of  the 
late  Senator  BUCKINGHAM  the  Senate  do  now  adjourn. 

The  resolution  was  unanimously  agreed  to ;  and  (at  six  o'clock 
and  fifty  minutes  p.  m.)  the  Senate  adjourned. 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER    OF    WILLIAM    A.    BUCKINGHAM.  45 


PROCEEDINGS 


HOUSE     OF     REPRESENTATIVES. 


ADDRESS    OF    yttR.    J3TARKWEATHER,  OF    pONNECTICUT. 

I  rise  to  call  up  the  resolutions  just  received  from  the  Senate  in 
regard  to  the  death  of  the  late  Senator  BUCKINGHAM. 
The  Clerk  read  as  follows : 

IN  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

febniary  27,  1875. 

Resolved  by  the  Senate,  That  as  an  additional  mark  of  respect  to 
the  memory  of  WILLIAM  A.  BUCKINGHAM,  late  a  Senator  from  the 
State  of  Connecticut,  business  be  now  suspended,  that  the  friends 
and  associates  of  the  deceased  may  pay  fitting  tribute  to  his  public 
and  private  virtues. 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  communicate  this  resolution  to  the 
House  of  Representatives. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  death  calls  us  again  to  pause  amid  these  busy 
scenes  and  pressing  labors.  How  frequent  the  reminder!  Half  a 
score  of  those  who  were  numbered  with  us  at  the  commencement  of 
the  Forty-third  Congress  are  to-day  numbered  with  the  dead.  One 
by  one  loved  and  trusted  associates  have  fallen  among  us,  and  we 
have  borne  them  mournfully  away  to  their  resting-places. 


46  ADDRESS   OF   MR.    STARKWEATHER   ON  THE 

When,  a  few  days  since,  the  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Senator 
BUCKINGHAM  reached  this  Capitol,  there  was  a  deep  sense  of  sad 
ness  and  bereavement.  To  us  who  knew  him  intimately,  who  had 
met  him  in  the  sunlight  of  his  home,  who  had  felt  the  glow  of  his 
pure  and  generous  heart,  and  had  seen  its  ready  response  to  every 
call  of  distress;  to  us  who  had  long  known  him  as  the  best  beloved 
of  all  the  honored  names  of  our  Commonwealth,  there  is  a  sadness 
inexpressible. 

I  am  oppressed  with  a  sense  of  my  inability  to  sketch  even  the 
outline  of  a  life  so  full  of  noble  purposes  and  grand  achievement. 

The  community  in  which  I  live  was  bound  to  Senator  BUCKING 
HAM  by  the  most  endearing  ties.  He  was  born  within  the  limits  of 
the  district  I  represent.  Here  he  grew  to  manhood,  here  he  passed 
all  the  years  of  his  active  business  life,  here  his  home,  and  here  among 
his  old  neighbors  and  friends,  beside  the  wife  of  his  early  love,  in 
affectionate  remembrance,  he  finds  his  resting-place.  Within  the 
borders  of  the  Commonwealth  which  he  served  and  honored  more 
fully  than  any  public  man  of  this  generation  he  had  won  the  affec 
tionate  veneration  of  the  people. 

WILLIAM  A.  BUCKINGHAM  was  born  at  Lebanon  on  the  28th  of 
May,  1804,  the  son  of  an  intelligent  and  thrifty  farmer  and  influen 
tial  citizen.  He  came  from  good  stock.  His  ancestor,  Thomas 
Buckingham,  was  one  of  the  original  settlers  of  New  Haven,  and 
the  Rev.  Thomas  Buckingham,  son  of  the  latter,  settled  in  Saybrook 
and  was  one  of  the  founders  of  Yale  College  and  of  the  synod  that 
formed  the  Saybrook  platform.  Counting  back  seven  generations 
from  the  farmer's  son  of  Lebanon,  the  "  noble  war  governor,"  we 
reach  the  founder  of  our  university. 

He  was  born  and  reared  amid  patriotic  associates,  for,  since  the 
days  of  Jonathan  Trumbull,  and  even  in  the  colonial  period, 
Lebanon  was  pre-eminent  for  its  patriotism.  But  he  did  not  rest  his 
claim  for  success  on  illustrious  ancestry  or  fortunate  associations,  but 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF  WILLIAM   A.    BUCKINGHAM.  47 

went  forth  to  gain  success  by  his  own  exertions.  All  his  life  has 
been  filled  with  usefulness  and  crowned  with  honor.  No  better 
example  can  be  afforded  for  our  study  and  imitation. 

His  public  life  consisted  mainly  of  eight  years'  service  as  governor 
of  Connecticut,  commencing  in  1858,  and  ending  in  1866,  and  a 
service  of  nearly  six  years  in  the  Senate.  Prior  to  his  election  as 
governor  in  1858,  he  had  often  been  solicited  to  accept  offices  of 
honor  and  responsibility.  These  he  had  uniformly  declined,  with 
the  exception  of  four  years  as  mayor  of  Norwich. 

As  governor"  he  showed  marked  executive  ability.  When  the 
news  came  of  the  firing  on  Sumter,  and  President  Lincoln  made  his 
first  call  for  troops,  he  did  not  wait  for  an  extra  session  of  the  legis 
lature  to  provide  means.  The  public  confidence  in  him  was  so 
complete  that  he  secured  at  once  ample  means,  and  the  troops  were 
immediately  sent  forward  for  the  defense  of  the  nation  fully  armed 
and  equipped  for  service.  His  labors  were  unceasing,  and  his 
patriotism  inspired  the  people  everywhere.  During  all  the  war,  as 
the  chief  executive  of  the  State,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  public 
service  with  a  zeal  and  self-sacrifice  that  has  rarely  been  equaled, 
and  he  earned  well  the  title  of  "  noble  war  governor."  Year  after 
year  he  was  re-elected;  and  at  the  close  of  the  war,  when  last 
chosen,  his  majority  was  unprecedented  in  our  State.  He  looked 
well  to  the  comfort  of  the  soldiers,  and  thought  little  of  his  own. 
He  gave  his  whole  time  to  the  work,  and  contributed  largely  of  his 
private  fortune.  In  this  outline  it  is  impossible  to  represent  the 
measure  of  his  service  or  his  patriotism  that  won  the  affection  of 
the  people  and  made  his  name  a  household  word  in  every  home  in 
the  Commonwealth. 

He  had  most  fully  the  confidence  of  President  Lincoln,  and  was 
frequently  called  by  him  to  advise  as  to  most  important  matters  con 
nected  with  his  administration. 

He  comprehended  from  the  first  more  fully  than  most  of  our 


48  ADDRESS    OF    MR.    STARKWEATHER   ON    THE 

statesmen  the  nature  of  the  rebellion  and  the  strength  and  resources 
of  the  confederacy.  In  his  letter  to  President  Lincoln,  dated  June 
25,  1861,  he  said: 

In  your  message  I  trust  you  will  ask  for  authority  to  organize  a 
force  of  four  or  five  hundred  thousand  men,  for  the  purpose  of  quell 
ing  the  rebellion,  and  for  an  appropriation  from  the  public  Treasury 
sufficient  for  their  support.  Let  legislation  upon  every  other  subject 
be  regarded  as  out  of  time  and  place,  and  the  one  great  object  of 
suppressing  the  rebellion  be  pursued  by  the  administration  with 
vigor  and  firmness,  without  taking  counsel  of  our  fears,  and  without 
listening  to  any  proposition  or  suggestion  which  may  emanate  from 
rebels  or  their  representatives,  until  the  authority  of  the  Government 
shall  be  respected,  its  laws  enforced,  and  its  supremacy  acknowledged 
in  every  section  of  the  country.  To  secure  such  high  public  interests, 
the  State  of  Connecticut  will  bind  her  destinies  more  closely  in  those 
of  the  General  Government,  and  in  adopting  the  measures  suggested 
she  will  unreservedly  pledge  all  her  pecuniary  and  physical  resources 
and  all  her  moral  power. 

In  the  most  disastrous  days,  when  many  lost  hope,  his  faith  in  the 
success  of  the  Union  cause  knew  no  abatement.  His  zeal  and  patri 
otism  inspired  everywhere  in  our  Commonwealth  measureless  activ 
ity.  On  every  call  for  troops  the  State  was  ready  to  furnish  more 
than  its  quota,  and  they  went  out  thoroughly  equipped  and  with  the 
best  arms. 

Of  his  service  in  the  Senate  there  is  no  need  that  I  should  recall 
it  here.  Although  he  had  received  no  previous  legislative  training, 
he  entered  at  once  with  great  aptitude  and  readiness  on  his  duties. 
He  made  no  claim  to  oratory,  but  he  had  what  is  better,  a  fund  of 
useful  information,  a  practical  knowledge  of  business,  and  a  ready 
ability  to  express  clearly  and  forcibly  his  views.  He  was  systematic, 
industrious,  and  faithful  in  a  remarkable  degree. 

As  a  member  of  the  Senate  Committee  on  Commerce  he  mastered 
most  fully  the  important  questions  that  were  there  presented  for  dis- 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER   OF    WILLIAM    A.    BUCKINGHAM.  49 

cussion  and  action.  As  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Indian 
Affairs  he  stood  resolutely  for  justice  for  this  stricken  race,  who  so 
sadly  need  friends.  His  voice  and  his  vote  were  always  given  with 
the  most  conscientious  regard  for  the  public  interest  and  the  nation's 
honor. 

In  the  Senate  he  won  the  respect  of  his  associates,  and,  judged  by 
the  work  accomplished,  the  results,  the  services  of  Senator  BUCK 
INGHAM  were  eminently  successful. 

In  private  life  no  language  can  present  him  in  his  true  nobility  of 
character.  As  a  citizen,  enterprising,  public-spirited,  he  had  a  liberal 
hand  for  every  good  work.  His  benevolence  knew  no  limit.  He 
gave  liberally  to  endow  schools  and  colleges  and  to  aid  charitable 
institutions,  but  his  contributions  which  flowed  out  in  a  thousand 
directions  and  which  have  found  no  record  here  will  in  the  aggregate 
exceed  those  many  fold. 

The  cause  of  education  found  in  him  an  earnest,  intelligent  advo 
cate.  His  consistent  example  for  temperance,  always  inflexibly 
maintained,  was  more  persuasive  than  the  pulpit  or  the  platform. 

His  religious  convictions  were  of  the  highest  type,  and  the  pre 
cepts  of  inspiration  were  with  him  the  rule  of  action  in  his  daily  life. 
His  faith  in  the  Infinite,  his  love  of  truth,  gave  him  a  grand  courage 
in  the  battle  of  life.  His  foundations  were  sure.  He  never  hesi 
tated  or  faltered.  He  met  all  the  great  responsibilities  and  trials  of 
life,  and  triumphed,  being  upheld — 

Through  the  dear  might  of  Him  that  walked  the  waves. 

And  while  to-day  we  are  clothed  in  sadness,  we  acknowledge  with 
gratitude  the  goodness  and  wisdom  of  our  heavenly  Father  who  has 
given  such  a  life  to  the  world,  for  his  example  is  immortal.  Not 
alone  statesmen  and  those  in  high  places  in  the  council  of  the  nation 
will  profit  by  it,  but  all  who  shall  come  within  its  beneficent  influ 
ence.  He  died  at  his  home.  Tender  and  sympathizing  friends  were 


4  B 


50  ADDRESS   OF    MR.    KELLOGG   ON   THE 

with  him  to  minister  consolation.     He  passed  peacefully  to  his  earthly 
repose  and  to  the  rewards  of  life  immortal. 

There  entertain  him  all  the  saints  above, 

In  solemn  troop  and  sweet  societies, 
That  sing  and  in  their  glory  move 

And  wipe  the  tear  forever  from  all  eyes. 

Great  and  generous  spirit,  farewell! 


F  ^MR.    JCELLOGG,  OF    pONNECTICUT. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  Death,  which  comes  but  .once  yet  comes  to  all, 
has  made  fearful  havoc  in  our  ranks  during  the  few  short  weeks  of 
this  session,  and  has  taught  us  again  and  again,  if  we  heed  the  lesson, 
what  shadows  we  are  and  what  shadows  we  pursue.  Four  of  our 
own  -number,  since  we  came  together,  less  than  three  months  since, 
have  been  summoned  from  ^our  side  and  have  seen  the  last  of  earth. 
And  three  of  the  members-elect  of  the  next  Congress,  having  just 
passed  through  the  struggle,  the  excitement,  and  the  triumph  of  the 
contest  for  a  place  in  this  Hall,  have  fallen  by  the  wayside,  weary 
with  the  march  of  life.  And  should  not  this  teach  us,  my  brothers, 
how  empty  and  fleeting  are  the  honors  and  earthly  prizes  for  which 
we  strive,  and  how  soon  they  must  elude  our  grasp  ?  Should  it  not 
teach  us  also  that  the  few  years  that  are  given  us  here  should  be 
devoted  to  the  work  -that  shall  lead  us  to  a  higher  and  a  better  life ; 
to  works  of  love  and  charity  and  good-will  for  each  other,  and  kindly 
aid  and  help  to  all  who  need  and  can  receive  it  at  our  hands  ?  Life 
is  too  short,  there  is  too  little  of  it,  to  have  its  days  or  even  its  hours 
wasted  and  worse  than  wasted  in  cherishing  enmities  or  wounding 
the  heart  or  the  reputation  of  another  who  must  soon  lie  side  by  side 
with  us  in  the  grave,  "  that  covers  every  defect,  buries  every  error, 
and  extinguishes  every  resentment." 


LIFE   AND    CHARACTER    OF    WILLIAM    A.    BUCKINGHAM.  51 

And  now  the  blow  has  fallen  upon  a  member  of  the  other  House, 
whom  none  could  know  well  without  cherishing  for  him  an  earnest 
love  and  admiration  when  living,  and  a  keen  regret  and  an  abiding 
sorrow  for  his  loss  when  dead.  The  State  of  Connecticut  to-day 
mourns  the  departure  of  her  faithful  public  servant,  her  honored  war- 
governor,  her  Christian  patriot  and  statesman.  No  name  of  all  her 
sons  in  this  generation  has  been  more  familiar,  or  spoken  with  higher 
reverence  or  warmer  affection  than  his.  No  name  in  the  long  line 
of  her  honored  chief  magistrates  has  commanded  a  respect  and  admi 
ration  and  love  beyond  his.  In  the  mansions  of  the  rich  and  by  the 
firesides  of  the  lowly,  in  all  her  towns  and  villages,  and  among  all 
her  hills  and  hamlets  for  years  past,  the  name  of  WILLIAM  A.  BUCK 
INGHAM  has  been  a  household  word. 

There  is  a  beautiful  agricultural  town  in  Eastern  "Connecticut 
called  Lebanon,  named,  as  is  said,  by  one  of  the  early  Puritan  clergy 
men,  in  the  scriptural  fashion  of  that  day,  from  a  grove  of  goodly 
cedars  found  w^hin  its  borders.  As  Connecticut  has  sometimes 
been  called  the  mother  of  States,  so  that  town  has  well  been  called 
the  mother  of  her  governors.  There  the  Trumbulls,  father  and  son 
and  another  of  the  name,  were  born,  all  of  them  filling  the  executive 
chair  of  the  State  in  their  day  and  generation.  Of  the  twenty-five 
governors  of  our  State  who  held  the  office  from  1769  to  1866,  almost 
a  century,  three  governors,  natives  of  that  little  town,  held  the  office 
thirty-three  years.  They  were  Jonathan  Trumbull  the  elder  and 
younger,  and  the  late  Governor  BUCKINGHAM.  No  other  man  since 
the  days  of  the  Trumbulls  has  held  the  office  so  long  at  the  hands  of 
a  grateful  people  as  Governor  BUCKINGHAM,  with  one  exception,  that 
of  Oliver  Wolcott.  The  elder  Trumbull  held  the  office  for  the  long 
est  period  of  all ;  he  who  will  always  be  known  as  the  war-governor 
in  our  struggle  for  independence  as  a  nation,  the  fast  friend  and  the 
chosen  confidant  of  Washington,  whose  affectionate  and  loving 
though  homely  title,  by  which  he  addressed  him  as  Brother  Jona- 


52  ADDRESS   OF   MR.    KELLOGG   ON   THE 

than,  has  symbolized  this  country  for  a  century,  and  will  last  while 
the  Republic  shall  endure. 

There  WILLIAM  A.  BUCKINGHAM  was  born  in  1804.  In  his  early 
youth  he  was  surrounded  by  a  generation  that  had  known  well  the 
war-governor  of  the  Revolution ;  and  the  stories  told  in  childhood 
and  the  historical  studies  and  all  the  high  aspirations  of  his  youth, 
together  with  that  true  New  England  pride  in  the  name  of  an  emi 
nent  man  of  one's  native  town,  all  conspired  to  make  young  BUCK 
INGHAM  revere  and  seek  to  emulate  the  character  of  the  illustrious 
Trumbull.  How  well  and  how  grandly  and  completely  his  life  ful 
filled  the  aspirations  of  his  youth  this  generation  well  knows.  Like 
Trumbull,  he  became  a  merchant ;  and  they,  like  that  honored  asso 
ciate  of  ours  from  Massachusetts,  Mr.  Hooper,  whose  remains  were 
borne  from  {his  Hall  a  few  days  ago,  were  of  that  class  whose  mer 
chants  are  princes  and  whose  traffickers  are  the  honorable  of  the 
earth.  Like  Trumbull,  he  acquired  wealth ;  and  like  Trumbull  also, 
in  his  later  life  he  learned  the  hard  lesson,  harder  and  more  difficult 
to  bear  as  crowding  years  have  gathered  over  one,  that  losses  will 
come,  and  that  riches  often  take  to  themselves  wings  and  fly  away. 
Like  Trumbull,  he  lavished  his  wealth  and  gave  freely  with  full 
hands  for  all  objects  that  were  good  and  noble — for  the  culture,  the 
education,  and  the  moral  and  religious  improvement  of  his  fellow- 
men.  And  like  Trumbull,  though  he  might  have  died  with  more  of 
this  world's  goods  that  he  could  not  take  away  if  he  had  been  less 
liberal  and  charitable  and  benevolent,  he  has  taken  with  him  into 
the  skies  the  abounding  riches  of  a  life  of  virtue,  of  charity,  of  love 
and  good-will  toward  men ;  and  he  has  left  behind  a  richer  and 
more  priceless  legacy  to  his  people  than  all  the  wealth  of  Ormus  or 
all  the  shining  piles  of  silver  and  gold  that  mortal  man  has  ever 
accumulated — an  honorable  and  a  stainless  name. 

The  flying  hours  of  a  closing  session  admonish  me  that  I  cannot 
linger  as  long  as  I  would  in  this  last  tribute  to  our  honored  and 


LIFE   AND    CHARACTER   OF   WILLIAM   A.    BUCKINGHAM.  53 

beloved  Senator.  He  will  be  best  known  in  the  history  of  his 
country  as  the  war-governor  of  Connecticut  in  the  late  great  con 
flict  for  a  nation's  unity  and  a  nation's  life ;  and  here  I  might  pursue 
the  parallel  with  Trumbull  if  time  would  allow  me.  He  gave  his 
whole  time  and  strength  to  the  work.  In  the  darkest  hour  of  his 
country's  trial  he  was  ever  cheerful,  confident,  hopeful,  energetic. 
With  a  courage  that  never  faltered,  and  with  a  faith  fast  fixed  on  the 
future  glories  of  a  country  saved,  reunited,  and  redeemed  from 
the  national  shame  and  sin  that  had  caused  the  war,  he  went  through 
with  his  exhausting  work  to  the  end.  I  might  fill  pages  with  inci 
dents  of  his  devotion,  his  patriotism,  and  his  untiring  energy  during 
those  four  sad,  weary  years,  even  of  those  that  came  under  my 
own  observation.  And  on  the  very  day  in  April,  1865,  that  the 
cannon  were  booming  and  bells  were  ringing  out  the  glad  tidings 
that  the  power  of  the  rebellion  was  broken  and  the  city  of  its  gov 
ernment  had  surrendered  to  the  Union  armies,  he  was  re-elected  gov 
ernor  for  the  eighth  and  last  time  by  the  largest  majority  ever  given 
to  a  candidate  during  my  residence  in  said  State,  now  more  than 
thirty  years.  He  refused  to  be  again  a  candidate.  Severe  labors 
and  gathering  years  demanded  rest  and  quiet.  But  his  people  were 
unwilling  to  leave  him  there.  He  was  elected  to  the  Senate,  and 
took  his  seat  in  the  spring  of  1869.  Those  of  us  who  have  been 
here  during  these  last  six  years  can  bear  witness  how  faithfully  he  has 
done  his  work  here.  In  his  place  in  the  Senate  he  has  honored  his 
State  more  than  his  State  could  honor  him.  Nor  has  his  work  been 
confined  to  the  Senate  and  the  committee-room.  Those  hours  that 
at  his  age  should  be  given  to  rest  he  has  devoted  to  the  constant 
and  numberless  calls  that  one  faithful  to  his  constituents  will  here 
find  daily  on  his  hands.  As  Burke  said  to  his  constituents,  his  work 
was  at  the  Departments  also ;  he  went  about  constantly  wherever 
the  affairs  or  the  interests  of  his  people  could  call  him.  For  the 
humblest  as  well  as  the  highest  of  his  people  he  was  ever  ready  to 


54 


ADDRESS    OF    MR.    KELLOGG   ON   THE 


give  his  own  personal  labor  and  effort.  His  fellow-Senators  have 
spoken  his  praise  in  words  of  no  unmeaning  eulogy.  Courteous, 
kindly,  and  a  perfect  gentleman  in  his  intercourse  with  all,  they 
learned  to  love  him  all ;  no  harsh  expression  or  word  of  insult  or 
unkindness  to  a  brother  member,  in  the  heat  of  debate  or  otherwise, 
fell  from  his  lips,  and  the  Senate  Chamber  is  fragrant  with  loving 
and  tender  memories  of  their  departed  associate. 

I  met  Senator  BUCKINGHAM  for  the  last  time  in  August.  We  had 
been  a  day  or  two  together,  and  he  was  then  in  ill-health  and  seek 
ing  rest  and  recreation.  I  remember  the  saddened  and  worn  expres 
sion  upon  his  face,  though  lighted  up  as  always  with  his  beaming, 
kindly  smile,  as  he  took  my  hand  at  parting  in  our  room  at  the  sea 
side  hotel,  and  said,  "  I  shall  be  stronger  when  the  warm  weather  is 
over,  and  we  will  meet  again  at  Washington,  ready  for  hard  work  in 
December."  But  he  never  came.  His  work  was  done.  He  had 
lived,  with  a  life  full  of  every  good  word  and  work,  to  the  allotted 
years  of  three-score  and  ten ;  and  if  the  prayers  and  wishes  of  his 
people  could  have  availed,  as  they  cannot,  his  years  should  have 
been  more  than  four-score,  and  none  of  his  days  should  have  been 
those  of  weakness  or  sorrow.  He  died  before  his  term  of  office 
expired;  and  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  last  Senator  from  Connec 
ticut  who  had  died  before  him,  during  his  term  of  office,  was  a  fel 
low-townsman  of  our  deceased  friend — Mr.  Jabez  W.  Huntington, 
who  died  at  his  residence  in  Norwich  nearly  thirty  years  ago. 

Patriotism,  piety,  benevolence,  charity,  and  a  strict  integrity  were 
the  characteristics  of  the  life  of  WILLIAM  A.  BUCKINGHAM.  His 
patriotism  was  intense.  Those  of  us  who  saw  him  often  during  the 
war  can  never  forget  it.  If  there  was  one  thing  that  he  could  not 
forgive  in  the  day  and  time  of  it,  it  was  disloyalty  to  the  country, 
though  his  heart  was  full  of  forgiveness  after  the  war  was  over.  His 
piety  was  unquestioned ;  it  was  in  his  daily  walk  and  daily  life.  He 
can  well  bear  the  name  of  a  Christian  statesman;  for  though  in 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER   OF    WILLIAM    A.    BUCKINGHAM.  55 

these  days,  when  the  clouds  of  calumny  are  thick  about  the  heads  of 
all  men  in  public  life,  it  is  the  fashion  of  some  men  to  speak  sneer- 
ingly  of  Christian  statesmen,  yet  the  bitterest  scoffer  and  traducer 
can  well  mention  the  name  of  WILLIAM  A.  BUCKINGHAM  as  a  Chris 
tian  statesman  without  a  sneer.  His  benevolence  was  large  as  his 
heart ;  his  bounty  was  ample  as  his  means.  Much  he  gave  to  pub 
lic,  religous,  educational,  and  charitable  institutions;  but  there  were 
silent  streams  of  charity  flowing  into  many  an  afflicted  or  impover 
ished  household  that  the  world  knew  not  of.  How  much  those  peo 
ple  mourn  his  loss  none  but  God  and  they  can  know;  but  the 
prayers  and  the  blessings  of  the  poor  he  befriended  in  life  are  among 
the  brightest  jewels  of  his  crown  of  rejoicing.  His  integrity  no  man 
could  question.  A  bright  example  of  the  constant  exercise  of  all  the 
virtues  of  a  well-spent  life  he  has  given  for  us  in  the  few  years  that 
are  left  us,  and  a  noble  character  for  our  sons  to  study  and  emulate 
as  they  grow  up  to  manhood.  In  contemplating  the  close  of  such  a 
life,  the  prayer  must  and  will  spring  to  our  lips,  "  Let  me  die  the 
death  of  the  righteous,  and  let  my  last  end  be  like  his."  A  life  like 
his  must  surely  lead,  as  God  is  just  and  good,  to  the  thanatopsis  so 
beautifully  described  in  the  familiar  language  of  one  of  New  Eng 
land's  native  poets: 

So  live  that  when  thy  summons  comes  to  join 
The  innumerable  caravan  which  moves 
To  that  mysterious  realm  where  each  shall  take 
His  chamber  in  the  silent  halls  of  death, 
Thou  go  not,  like  the  quarry-slave  at  night 
Scourged  to  his  dungeon,  but,  sustained  and  soothed 
By  an  unfaltering  trust,  approach  thy  grave 
Like  one  who  wraps  the  drapery  of  his  couch 
About  him,  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams. 


56  ADDRESS   OF   MR.    WILSON   ON   THE 

ADDRESS    OF    ^/VlR.     WlLSON,  OF    TOWA. 

The  sad  intelligence  just  brought  to  us  invites  me  to  look  back  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  when  the  life  of  WILLIAM  A.  BUCKINGHAM,  then 
in  its  meridian  as  a  business  man,  philanthropist,  and  Christian,  was 
referred  to  with  pride  by  his  fellow-men  and  pre-eminently  worthy 
the  example  of  the  school-boy. 

It  is  fitting  and  graceful  that  those  who  have  enjoyed  his  acquaint 
ance  without  interruption,  and  represent  the  same  State  here  that  he 
did  in  the  Senate,  should  tell  us  of  his  more  striking  characteristics 
and  delineate  the  features  of  that  well-rounded  life  of  which  all  who 
knew  him  are  so  justly  proud;  what  foot-prints  he  has  left  upon  the 
sands  of  Connecticut,  what  impression  upon  her  institutions. 

I  want  to  say  a  word  about  him  in  the  connection  in  which  so 
many  great  and  good  men  of  New  England  might  be  spoken  of — as  a 
friend  and  benefactor  of  something  new,  or  young,  or  feeble  in  the 
West. 

The  connection  of  some  eastern  men  with  the  growth  of  the  West 
has  not  been  written,  and,  owing  to  the  sacredness  of  its  nature, 
much  of  it  perhaps  never  will  be. 

What  the  West  owes  to  the  East  for  her  habits,  her  ideas  of  edu 
cation,  her  humane  laws,  and  her  religious  example  will  come  within 
the  scope  and  province  of  future  historians,  who  will  note  the  acqui 
sitions  to  the  prairies  of  ennobling  characteristics,  advanced  ideas, 
and  institutions  of  reform  and  charity.  It  will  be  easy  to  trace  to 
their  true  source  in  the  East  the  school-laws  that  tax  all  the  property 
to  educate  all  the  children,  the  town  library,  the  town  meeting,  laws 
abolishing  imprisonment  for  debt,  and  exempting  from  execution. 
But  the  eastern  men  who  followed  with  their  sympathies  the  pioneers 
who  first  reclaimed  from  nature  the  fields  that  now  teem  with  plenty, 
from  the  modesty  that  accompanies  such  goodness  of  heart  are  not 
likely  to  be  recorded  in  history  with  due  credit,  and  that,  too,  because 


LIFE   AND    CHARACTER   OF   WILLIAM    A.    BUCKINGHAM.  57 

the  right  hand  did  not  know  what  the  left  hand  was  doing.  This 
liberality  was  particularly  extended  toward  the  endowment  of  our 
struggling  colleges  and  academies,  and  follows  the  pioneer  to  his 
new  home  in  the  West  as  regularly  as  the  manners  and  habits  of  his 
eastern  home.  Just  how  much  of  the  rapid  growth  of  our  advanced 
institutions  of  learning  is  due  to  such  benefactions  may  never  be 
known,  but  their  influence  in  molding  the  character  of  western 
men  and  bringing  into  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  enlightenment  that 
is  placing  our  country  in  the  front  of  progressive  nations  will  live 
and  be  potent  for  good  long  after  the  donors  have  gone  to  their 
reward. 

WILLIAM  A.  BUCKINGHAM  was  of  this  race  of  nobility  a  typical 
man. 

A  colony  from  Norwich,  Connecticut,  settled  in  Central  Iowa  over 
twenty  years  ago.  It  is  common  in  the  West  in  many  localities  to 
call  divisions  of  land,  rivers,  creeks,  villages,  and  towns,  to  perpetu 
ate  what  was  familiar,  famous,  or  excellent  in  the  East  after  the  apt 
aboriginal  names  had  been  exhausted.  This  colony  named  a  con 
gressional  township  and  village  Buckingham.  One  of  the  first  things 
done  by  such  colonies  is  to  build  a  school-house  where  the  children 
may  learn,  where  religious  worship  may  be  held  on  the  Sabbath, 
where  the  temperance  lectures  may  be  delivered,  where  the  lyceum 
may  meet,  where  the  agricultural  society  may  discuss,  where  elec 
tions  can  be  held,  where  the  different  elements  that  comprise  a  west 
ern  community  first  learn  to  fraternize,  where  the  women  weave  the 
fabrics  of  sympathy  and  friendship  that  clothe  society  with  its  come- 
liest  garments,  and  acquaintance  is  first  made  by  the  young  people 
that  is  to  ripen  into  esteem,  friendship,  and  affection. 

Governor  BUCKINGHAM  contributed  liberally  to  the  first  school- 
house  built  in  the  new  settlement. 

A  mutual  friend  repeated  to  me  his  observation  when  speaking  of 
the  fact  that  his  name  was  to  be  associated  with  a  locality  in  Iowa. 


58  ADDRESS   OF   MR.   WILSON   ON   THE 

Said  he,  "I  understand  a  beautiful  town  has  been  named  for  me  in 
Iowa,  and  I  have  had  the  honor  of  aiding  in  building  a  school-house 
in  it,  and  annas  ready  to  aid  in  building  a  church  for  education,  and 
Christianity  will  be  the  basis  of  prosperity  in  Iowa,  as  in  New  En 
gland."  He  built  from  basement  to  spire  a  church  that  is  only  rivaled 
in  beauty  of  design  by  the  landscape  it  graces.  Just  how  much  the 
generous  spirit  of  this  one  man  has  done  for  the  place  and  people 
I  speak  of  cannot  be  estimated  by  any  measure  of  value  with 
which  we  are  familiar.  The  few  scattering  cabins  that  first  dotted 
the  prairie  about  Buckingham  have  long  since  been  replaced  by 
white  cottages  with  green  window-blinds.  The  few  pioneers  that 
first  worshiped  in  the  old  school-house  built  by  Mr.  BUCKINGHAM 
have  swelled  to  a  thickly-settled  neighborhood  with  many  school- 
houses.  They  tell  as  plainly  of  the  rising  of  the  people  as  the 
beacon-fires  on  the  hill-tops  told  of  the  gathering  of  the  highland 
clans,  but  the  numerous  churches  indicate  that  the  rising  promises 
peace  instead  of  war. 

So  little  is  generally  known  of  the  extent  of  the  benefactions  to 
our  young  institutions  of  learning,  that  although  my  district  has 
three  colleges  to  whose  endowment  eastern  men  of  wealth  have  con 
tributed  liberally,  and  are  still  contributing,  I  only  know  the  names 
of  a  few  of  them.  I  would  be  glad  to  incorporate  in  my  remarks  the 
names  of  each  of  the  noble  men  whose  generosity  has  gone  over  the 
Alleghanies  to  help  build  up  our  schools,  churches,  and  colleges. 
The  names  of  W.  A.  BUCKINGHAM,  Oakes  Ames,  William  E.  Dodge, 
Samuel  Wilston,  and  Ezra  Cornell  readily  occur  to  me  as  prominent 
examples. 

President  Thacher,  of  our  State  University,  told  me  an  anecdote 
that  illustrates  Governor  BUCKINGHAM'S  whole  life.  A  friend  called 
upon  him  and  found  him  in  deep  mental  distress.  Upon  inquiring 
the  cause,  Mr.  BUCKINGHAM  replied  that  after  a  careful  inquiry  into 
his  private  business  he  discovered  that  he  had  made  too  much  money. 


LIFE   AND    CHARACTER   OF   WILLIAM    A.    BUCKINGHAM.  59 

There  is  a  Christian  influence  at  work  in  America  that  is  not  con 
fined  to  States,  and  a  bond  of  union  that  is  stronger  than  the  Con 
stitution.  Its  promoters  are  above  partisan  or  sectional  feeling,  and 
its  objects  are  grander  than  the  development  of  our  material  re 
sources,  which  only  indicates  its  advancing  steps.  It  has  a  history, 
and  a  record  is  well  preserved  of  all  its  advocates. 

This  cause  has  lost  one  of  its  strong  men,  and  that  the  breach 
may  be  healed  we  are  impelled  to  say  with  the  sweet  singer  of 

Israel : 

Help,  Lord,  because  the  godly  man 

Doth  daily  fade  away  ; 
And  from  among  the  sons  of  men 
The  faithful  do  decay. 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  POTTER,  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  One  could  hardly  form  the  acquaintance  of  the 
late  Senator  BUCKINGHAM  without  respecting  and  liking  him.  To 
know  him  at  all  was  to  feel  sure  that  he  was  an  upright,  just,  and 
honorable  man.  There  was  a  modest  dignity  in  his  demeanor,  there 
was  a  gentleness  and  cordiality  in  his  manner,  which  at  once  inspired 
confidence  and  commanded  respect.  I  never  met  him  in  the  way 
of  public  duty  without  being  impressed  by  a  sense  of  his  sound  judg 
ment  and  high  principle.  I  never  met  him  in  private  life  without  a 
deeper  regard  for  his  pure,  gentle,  and  kindly  nature. 

But  with  all  his  moderation  and  kindness  no  one  could  ever  doubt 
that  Senator  BUCKINGHAM  held  to  his  opinions  upon  full  conviction. 
He  carried  his  notions  of  "loyalty,"  of  "abolition,"  or  of  "absti 
nence,"  into  his  daily  life,  and  insisted  upon  them  modestly,  but  with 
a  firmness  and  consistency  such  as  is  shown  only  by  men  who  believe. 

There  is  a  striking  and  a  hopeful  lesson,  sir,  in  such  a  life  as  was 
that  of  the  late  Senator.  Trained  in  those  common  schools  of  the 


60  ADDRESS   OF   MR.    POTTER   ON   THE 

country  which  are  open  to  every  child ;  beginning  business  in  a  small 
way;  gaining  success  by  upright,  faithful,  and  prompt  attention  to 
that  business ;  gradually  acquiring  influence  and  fortune,  and  with 
them  acquiring  sound  and  honorable  reputation,  he  came  in  time — 
though  perhaps  not  a  man  of  brilliant  natural  abilities — to  fill  with 
complete  success  positions  of  the  highest  usefulness  and  dignity. 
Chosen  governor  of  the  Commonwealth  before  the  late  civil  war,  he 
continued  to  discharge  the  duties  of  that  position  during  all  that  try 
ing  time  with  an  ability,  patriotism,  efficiency,  and  determination 
which  induced  his  people  to  repeatedly  re-elect  him  to  that  office 
against  the  usual  custom  of  the  State.  Removed  then  to  his  position 
in  the  Senate,  his  service  there  was  marked  by  such  a  careful,  judi 
cious,  and  efficient  discharge  of  his  senatorial  duties;  by  such  a 
wise  and  conscientious  regard  for  the  best  interest  of  the  people ;  by 
such  personal  gentleness,  purity,  and  kindness,  as  commanded  from 
all  who  served  with  him  there,  or  knew  him  at  all,  their  warmest 
praise,  and  call  now  for  their  deepest  regret  at  his  loss. 

My  political  views  differed  widely  from  those  of  Senator  BUCKING 
HAM.  But  I  knew  that  he  held  his  opinions  from  conviction,  and 
that  according  to  his  light  he  served  the  nation  purely,  honestly,  and 
faithfully,  with  judgment,  with  efficiency,  and  with  the  greatest 
kindness  toward  all.  Whoever,  sir,  does  that,  with  whatever  talents 
may  be  intrusted  to  him,  has  done  his  best,  and  when  called  away 
from  his  labors  here  has  deserved  of  all  men  that  high  respect  and 
warm  regard  which  those  who  knew  him  felt  for  the  late  Senator  from 
Connecticut. 

For  myself,  I  share  in  the  regret  expressed  in  both  Houses  of  Con 
gress  at  his  loss,  and  am  glad  to  be  allowed  to  add  these  few  words 
to  the  eulogiums  that  have  just  been  so  warmly  and  so  fitly  passed 
upon  this  worthy,  kindly,  and  honorable  Christian  gentleman. 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   WILLIAM   A.    BUCKINGHAM.  6l 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  M  AWLEY,  OF  CONNECTICUT. 

MR.  SPEAKER  :  The  plain,  old-fashioned  town  of  Lebanon,  Con 
necticut,  will  be  found  at  this  day  very  much  'as  the  French  officers 
looked  at  it  during  one  long,  dreary  winter  of  the  Revolution. 
There  stands  the  old  war-office  of  "  Brother  Jonathan,"  as  Governor 
Trumbull,  the  revolutionary  war  governor  of  Connecticut,  was  popu 
larly  called.  The  comments  of  the  Frenchmen  upon  country  life 
in  Connecticut  are  amusing  even  at  this  day.  I  hardly  suppose 
they  saw  in  it  the  beauty  and  excellence  that  we  perceive.  But 
among  those  old  country  roads  and  those  quiet  homesteads  grew 
up  a  body  of  young  men,  not  familiar  with  the  language  of  chivalry, 
not  receiving  from  their  parents  the  charge  of  the  Spartan  mother 
to  her  sons,  but  men  to  whom  the  word  "  duty "  was  everything. 
The  young  Trumbull  consecrated  himself  to  the  ministry,  but  the 
demands  of  his  father's  business  called  him  into  an  active  mercan 
tile  life ;  and  by  and  by  his  fellow-citizens  called  him  to  a  higher 
sphere  of  public  exertion,  and  he  was  governor  of  the  Colony  and 
State  for  fifteen  years,  commencing  with  1769.  He  was  the  only 
governor  of  a  Colony  that  remained  true  to  his  people  during  the 
war  of  the  Revolution.  Every  other  colonial  governor  went  with 
the  king.  Brother  Jonathan  stood  by  his  people  and  they  stood  by 
him  from  the  beginning  to  the  end — the  square,  straight,  solid, 
brave,  indomitable  old  man.  His  son  followed  him  in  the  chief 
magistracy  of  the  State  in  1798,  keeping  the  place  for  eleven  years, 
and  in  1858  our  good  Governor  WILLIAM  A.  BUCKINGHAM,  also  a 
native  of  Lebanon,  took  the  reins  to  hold  them  for  eight  stormy 
years. 

As  my  colleague  has  said,  the  excellence  of  his  gracious  mother 
was  traditional  in  the  town.  Doubtless,  as  my  colleague  has  said,  he 
emulated  the  example  of  Brother  Jonathan,  to  whom  duty  was  all  in 
all;  and  we  all  have  loved  to  contrast  them  in  their  lives.  Our  two 


62  ADDRESS    OF    MR.    HAWLEY    ON   THE 

war  governors,  not  dissimilar  in  many  circumstances  of  their  lives, 
but  especially  like  in  this,  each  with  the  hearty  choice  of  his  fellow- 
citizens  remained  at  the  head  of  the  little  Commonwealth  during  the 
long  great  wars  of  independence,  for  such  I  call  both  wars. 

His  pastor  said  of  him  truly,  he  was  the  offspring  of  New  Eng 
land's  purest  life ;  she  never  gave  birth  to  a  nobler  son. 

I  do  not  know  that  men  would  call  Governor  BUCKINGHAM  a 
great  man,  but  he  is  like  many  others  who  are  revered  in  history. 
Sometimes  men  sit  down  and  dissect  the  character  of  George  Wash 
ington  and  tell  us  he  was  not  great,  but  the  world  persists  in  remem 
bering  him,  walking  round  about  his  character,  pointing  out  all  its 
virtues  and  admiring  its  symmetry  and  power.  So  of  our  lamented 
friend ;  I  do  not  know  we  can  call  him  a  great  orator  or  a  great 
writer  or  great  in  anything  especially,  but  you  can  look  at  no 
element  of  his  heart  or  head  in  which  he  does  not  appear  excellent. 
As  a  son,  as  a  husband,  as  a  father,  as  a  brother  and  friend,  all  who 
knew  him  speak  of  him  in  terms  of  the  most  devoted  affection  and 
respect.  They  say  there  was  none  like  the  old  governor  in  all  these 
things,  and  as  he  moved  among  his  fellow-citizens  his  appearance 
commanded  their  respect.  Strong  in  his  affections,  kindly  and 
courteous  in  his  manner,  he  attracted  the  love  of  all  about  him. 

He  was  an  energetic  and  successful  business  man.  He  rose  to 
eminence ;  he  accumulated  property,  but  he  used  it  as  one  who  con 
sidered  himself  merely  the  steward,  and  as  my  friend  from  Iowa 
[Mr.  WILSON]  has  said,  he  lamented  at  one  time  when  he  found 
himself  growing  so  rich,  and  immediately  began  to  discharge  the 
duty  of  a  Christian  gentlemen  in  bestowing  it  wisely  upon  many 
enterprises. 

As  a  public  servant  his  fidelity,  his  energy,  his  patriotism,  marked 
him  among  public  men.  He  was  public-spirited  in  the  broadest 
sense  of  the  word.  We  wonder,  looking  over  his  life,  how  he  found 
time  to  do  so  much.  He  seemed  always  ready  to  take  any  new 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   WILLIAM    A.    BUCKINGHAM.  63 

burden  upon  his  shoulders.  He  never  seemed  to  be  discouraged. 
He  never  seemed  to  be  overburdened.  As  the  president  of  a  tem 
perance  society  or  at  the  head  of  a  Bible  society,  or  a  tract  society, 
or  a  missionary  society,  or  attending  great  public  meetings  or  politi 
cal  conventions,  he  always  came  to  the  front;  never  failed — always 
ready,  always  efficient.  He  was  always  among  the  men  at  the  head 
of  his  own  church.  He  was  a  deacon  for  thirty  years ;  a  man  who 
scarcely  ever  missed  his  seat — never  if  his  health  permitted.  He 
was  leaned  upon  by  the  respective  pastors.  He  was  a  friend  of  the 
public  schools  and  of  every  charity — a  ready  and  cheerful  giver ;  he 
only  wanted  to  know  how  much  they  thought  should  be  his  share. 
He  paid  cheerfully,  not  as  a  tax  but  as  a  duty  and  a  privilege.  He 
was  the  friend  of  all  the  young  men  who  ever  came  near  him  seek 
ing  education.  He  gave  when  he  could ;  encouraged  them ;  never 
turned  them  away  without  a  kindly  word.  He  was  a  patient  and 
ready  sympathizer  and  friend  of  the  poor.  He  was  a  warm  friend 
of  the  slave  always;  and  when  he  came  finally  to  the  head  of  our 
affairs  at  the  beginning  of  the  rebellion  we  found  our  plain,  straight 
forward,  well-balanced  country  gentlemen  made  a  great  war  gov 
ernor — always  cheerful,  always  brave,  always  ready,  always  ahead  in 
business,  so  that  the  quota  of  Connecticut  was  always  in  advance  of 
the  demands  of  the  Federal  Government. 

Our  troops  always  went  out  so  well  equipped  that  on  reaching 
the  field  they  were  immediately  stripped  of  some  of  their  surplus. 
Interested  in  the  widows  and  orphan  children  of  the  dead  soldiers 
and  urging  upon  the  Legislature  the  care  of  them,  sending  his 
agents  constantly  to  inspect  the  condition  of  our  troops,  and  com 
municating  with  them  constantly  by  messengers  and  by  telegrams, 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end,  I  do  not  know  what  more  our  Com 
monwealth  could  have  asked  of  WILLIAM  A.  BUCKINGHAM.  He 
never  had  a  doubt  of  the  willingness  of  the  State  to  stand  by  him, 
and  never  had  a  doubt  of  the  success  of  the  contest. 


64  ADDRESS   OF   MR.    HAWLEY. 

His  children  and  his  family  will  remember  him.  His  business 
associates  will  remember  him.  All  the  late  soldiers  will  remember 
him.  The  managers  of  all  our  benevolent  associations  will  remem 
ber  him.  His  humble  neighbors,  the  poor,  will  remember  his  tender 
words  and  generous  private  charities.  His  church  will  remember 
him,  and  the  State  will  forever  cherish  his  name  with  those  of  the 
good  old  Governor  Trumbull  and  its  truest  and  strongest  leaders. 
He  manifested  in  his  activities  and  usefulness  a  strong,  clear,  and 
symmetrical  character.  In  studying  him  I  perceive  the  value  of 
that  element  which  men  call  character.  If  men  will  not  call  him 
great  in  majesty  of  intellect,  they  must  call  him  great  in  goodness, 
great  in  the  harmony,  in  the  truth,  in  the  firmness,  the  fidelity  of  his 
character — "  rich  in  saving  common  sense."  In  speaking  of  him 
I  think  of  what  the  English  laureate  said  in  talking  of  one  of  Eng 
land's  good  and  great  men : 

O  good  gray  head  which  all  men  knew ; 
O  steady  nerve  to  all  occasions  true ; 

O  fall'n  at  length  that  tower  of  strength 
Which  stood  four-square  to  all  the  winds  that  blew. 

The  SPEAKER.  By  the  order  of  the  House,  the  House  now 
takes  a  recess  until  half  past  seven  o'clock. 

The  House  accordingly  (at  five  o'clock  and  five  minutes  p.  m.) 
took  a  recess. 


£+3$ 

.Balls 


12468 


